Serving as venue for Ohio justices

Students to hear 4 cases in Lisbon

By D.A. WILKINSON

VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU

LISBON — Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron said the appearance here of the state’s highest court is historic.

The Ohio Supreme Court will hear four cases Wednesday morning at the county courthouse.

The visit is part of the top court’s off-site program that Chief Justice Thomas J. Moyer initiated in 1987.

Columbiana County will be the 57th off-site visit. Larger Ohio cities had their visits years ago.

The program is aimed at students who are interested in and have been studying the law.

“It’s a great opportunity to show and explain the appeals process,” Herron said.

Cases in Ohio may go from the local level to an appeals court and, finally, the Supreme Court.

Schools taking part are Beaver Local, Lisbon, Salem, Columbiana, Crestview, East Liverpool Christian School, East Palestine, Heartland Christian School, Leetonia High School, Minerva, Wellsville, West Branch, the Columbiana Career Center, Southern Local and United Local. One student who is home-schooled also will attend.

Students will hear one of four appeals. The Supreme Court provided histories of the cases that show the complexity of the law.

There will be a press conference at the start of the program. The students, who are being bused in, will hear oral arguments in a case, as will Chief Justice Thomas Moyer and Justices Paul E. Pfeifer, Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, Maureen O’Connor, Terrence O’Donnell, Judith Ann Lanzinger and Robert R. Cupp.

None of the cases is from Columbiana County, but they are from nearby areas.

The arguments will take about 25 minutes. No decisions will be made.

Herron said the top court afterward will come to an agreement on a case, and then an opinion will be written. Herron said some of the justices may write dissenting opinions.

County court workers have planned the movements to the minute.

The top court will meet in the courtroom of Judge David Tobin, who invited them. The courtroom Judge C. Ashley Pike and the courtroom of Juvenile/Probate Court Judge Tom Baronzzi will be used to explain to the students on what they just saw. The students will leave right after the explanations.

An invitation-only lunch will follow at a local church. The entire event is expected to be over before noon.

Ohio became a state in 1803, and two Supreme Court justices had a meeting in the county late that year that is commemorated by a plaque at a road rest on state Route 7 south of New Waterford.

wilkinson@vindy.com