State ex rel. Curtis v. Turner, 2024 Ohio 2682

Marc D. Curtis, an inmate, requested court records from the Clerk of Courts for the Cleveland Municipal Court, specifically records related to his own criminal prosecution.
The records Curtis sought included arrest warrants, search warrants (DNA and cellphone), and related affidavits and returns; the clerk produced some documents, but not those specific items.
The clerk stated he did not possess the requested records and supported this with an affidavit from an assistant director.
Curtis filed a mandamus action in state appellate court, seeking to compel production or a definitive statement that the records do not exist; the court denied the writ based on the clerk's affidavit.
On appeal to the Ohio Supreme Court, Curtis sought judicial notice of new documents, which the Court rejected and partially redacted from the record.
The dispute centered on whether the clerk actually possessed the documents and whether the Rules of Superintendence or Public Records Act governed access to such records.

Issue	Curtis’s Argument	Clerk's Argument	Held
Duty to Produce or Clarify Existence of Records	Clerk must produce records or state definitively if they do not exist	Clerk already stated, by affidavit, that he does not possess them	Clerk’s affidavit was sufficient; no further duty
Applicability of Rules of Superintendence	Rules entitle him to requested court documents	Rules apply, but clerk complied with duties therein	Court assumes Rules apply but finds no violation
Applicability of Public Records Act	Public Records Act controls only non-court records, not court records	Argued R.C. 149.43(B)(8) might bar inmate if Act applied	Issue not reached; decision based on lack of records
Judicial Notice of New Documents	Court should take judicial notice of documents attached to reply brief	Documents are new evidence, not part of the record, protected info	Court denied judicial notice; redacted protected info

State ex rel. Lanham v. Smith, 117 Ohio St.3d 105 (public offices not required to provide nonexistent records)
State ex rel. Frank v. Clermont Cty. Prosecutor, 164 Ohio St.3d 552 (affidavit may establish all responsive records provided)
State ex rel. Striker v. Smith, 129 Ohio St.3d 168 (clerk not required to produce records not in possession)
State ex rel. Harris v. Turner, 160 Ohio St.3d 484 (appellate courts cannot consider new matters outside the record)
State ex rel. White v. Watson, 112 Ohio St.3d 212 (redacting identity of juvenile victims from public records)