Burns v. Ohio

Background

A man convicted of burglary in Ohio was sentenced to life and tried to seek further review in the state’s highest court. He filed a motion in 1957 asking permission to appeal and submitted an affidavit saying he had no money to pay the required docket fee. The clerk of the Ohio Supreme Court returned the papers because the court required a $20 filing fee before any motion for leave to appeal would be docketed.

Reasoning

The core question was whether a State may make an indigent criminal defendant pay a filing fee before allowing him to ask for permission to appeal. The Court relied on the principle that once a State offers appellate review, it cannot block poor people from any part of that process because of poverty. The State had treated the clerk’s routine refusal as the court’s judgment and enforced a rule that denied indigent defendants the chance to have their motions considered. The Court concluded that denying access solely because of lack of funds violated equal justice principles and vacated the lower judgment.

Real world impact

The ruling requires Ohio to allow the indigent defendant to file his motion without prepaying the docket fee and sends the case back to the state court for further action consistent with this opinion. The decision protects the ability of poor criminal defendants to seek review in state appellate procedures and pressures courts to change fee practices that block access. This ruling addresses only the procedural barrier to filing; it does not decide the underlying guilt or merits of the appeal.

Dissents or concurrances

A dissent argued the Supreme Court lacked jurisdiction because there was no final judgment by the state’s highest court and suggested other routes for the defendant, such as direct application to state judges, mandamus, a civil-rights lawsuit, or a habeas corpus petition.