State ex rel. Bates v. Eppinger (Slip Opinion), 147 Ohio St. 3d 355

Robert L. Bates was indicted for aggravated murder in 2002; a jury convicted him of the lesser included offense of murder and firearm specifications.
The trial court sentenced Bates to 15 years to life for murder and 8 years actual incarceration for the specifications, to run consecutively.
Bates filed a habeas-corpus petition in the court of appeals (Sept. 9, 2015) arguing that the jury’s failure to convict him of aggravated murder was an acquittal that precluded conviction of the lesser included offense and deprived the trial court of jurisdiction.
The warden moved to dismiss; the court of appeals dismissed Bates’s petition for failure to comply with R.C. 2969.25’s filing requirements.
The Supreme Court of Ohio affirmed, holding Bates failed to file the mandatory six‑month inmate-account statement covering the six months immediately preceding filing and that habeas is not the proper vehicle to challenge indictment sufficiency.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Compliance with R.C. 2969.25(C)(1)	Bates filed indigency affidavit and cashier’s statement; petition should proceed	Warden: cashier’s statement did not show account balances for the six months immediately preceding filing as statutorily required	Dismissal affirmed: statement failed to cover the six months before filing; defect not cured by later filing
Availability of habeas to challenge indictment/lesser-included conviction	Failure to convict of aggravated murder amounted to acquittal, barring conviction of lesser offense and depriving court of jurisdiction	Warden: habeas cannot be used to challenge indictment sufficiency; lesser-included conviction is permissible under Ohio law	Court: habeas unavailable for this challenge; argument must have been raised on direct appeal
Whether a lesser offense may be found guilty though not separately charged	Bates: lesser offense conviction invalid because not in indictment	Warden: R.C. 2945.74 allows conviction of lesser included offense not separately charged	Court: statutory and precedent authority allow conviction of lesser included offense; murder is lesser of aggravated murder
Effect of post-filing cure of R.C. 2969.25 defect	Bates: attempted amendment/cure after filing should allow review	Warden: later filing does not cure initial statutory noncompliance	Court: later submission does not cure defect; dismissal required

Al'shahid v. Cook, 144 Ohio St.3d 15 (2015) (failure to comply with R.C. 2969.25 requires dismissal; later cure not effective)
Fuqua v. Williams, 100 Ohio St.3d 211 (2003) (same rule on statutory filing requirements for inmates)
State ex rel. Hall v. Mohr, 140 Ohio St.3d 297 (2014) (statutory noncompliance with inmate‑filing rules mandates dismissal)
State ex rel. Arroyo v. Sloan, 142 Ohio St.3d 541 (2015) (habeas is not available to challenge indictment validity)
State v. Evans, 122 Ohio St.3d 381 (2009) (R.C. 2945.74 permits conviction of lesser included offense not separately charged)
State v. Bethel, 110 Ohio St.3d 416 (2006) (murder is a lesser included offense of aggravated murder)