State ex rel. Key v. Spicer

In 1986, the Summit County Court of Common Pleas convicted appellant, Phillip R. Key, of complicity to commit aggravated robbery and sentenced him to prison. On appeal, the judgment was affirmed. State v. Key (Oct. 1, 1986), Summit App. No. 12568, unreported, 1986 WL 11318. The presiding judge of the common pleas court had assigned appellee, Judge W.F. Spicer, a judge of the probate division, to preside over Key’s criminal case.

In October 2000, Key filed a complaint in the Court of Appeals for Summit County for a writ of prohibition to vacate his 1986 conviction and sentence. Key claimed that…