James v. State (Slip Opinion), 148 Ohio St. 3d 446

In 1998 Omar K. James (aka Ahmad K. James) was convicted after representing himself and sentenced to 13 years for drug and weapons offenses.
James filed federal habeas corpus; the district court conditionally granted the writ, ordering release or a new trial; the Sixth Circuit affirmed that his waiver of counsel was not knowing and intelligent.
The State elected not to retry James and the charges were dismissed with prejudice, resulting in his release after serving about 9 years.
James sued in state court seeking a declaration that he is a "wrongfully imprisoned individual" under R.C. 2743.48(A); both parties moved for summary judgment and the trial court granted the State's motion.
The court of appeals reversed on remand, finding James satisfied all elements of R.C. 2743.48(A), including (A)(5) (that a post-sentencing procedural error resulted in release); this Court accepted discretionary review.
The Ohio Supreme Court reversed the court of appeals, holding James failed to meet R.C. 2743.48(A)(5) because the error that produced his release (improper waiver of counsel) occurred before sentencing and imprisonment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether James satisfied R.C. 2743.48(A)(5) — that an "error in procedure" occurring after sentencing and during or after imprisonment resulted in his release	James: State's failure to schedule/retry after federal habeas (i.e., not retrying) was a post‑sentencing procedural error that caused his release	State: The relevant error was the pre‑sentencing invalid waiver of counsel; failure to retry after the federal writ did not cause the release under (A)(5)	Held for State: (A)(5) not satisfied because the error that produced release occurred before sentencing/imprisonment, not after

Mansaray v. State, 138 Ohio St.3d 277 (2014) (syllabus: to satisfy R.C. 2743.48(A)(5) the procedural error must occur subsequent to sentencing and during or subsequent to imprisonment)
Doss v. State, 135 Ohio St.3d 211 (2012) (holding all five elements of R.C. 2743.48(A) must be satisfied to be declared a wrongfully imprisoned individual)
James v. Brigano, 470 F.3d 636 (6th Cir. 2006) (affirming federal habeas relief based on waiver-of-counsel not knowing and intelligent)