State ex rel. Rowe v. McCown

{¶ 1} In July 2005, appellant, William E. Rowe Jr., an inmate at Chillicothe Correctional Institution, filed a petition in the Court of Appeals for Lawrence County for a writ of mandamus to compel appellee, Lawrence County Common Pleas Court Judge Frank J. McCown, to release him from prison in accordance with a plea agreement that he claimed the state had breached. As required by R.C. 2969.25, he attached an affidavit describing a prior civil action he had filed against a government employee within the previous five years.

{¶ 2} On July 25, 2005, the court of appeals nevertheless sua sponte…