Selected Results
Real courtrooms, real stakes, and real clients whose futures depended on the result. The verdicts speak for themselves.
Rape carrying a potential life sentence. Not guilty by jury verdict after trial (2025).
Aggravated murder. Verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity after trial (2019).
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different. The trial outcomes above are illustrative; specific trial captions will be added as they are cleared for publication.
The Appellate Record
Appellate and post-conviction work is the firm's flagship. Susan Moran has secured reversals in 40+ reported Ohio appeals. The decisions below are a selection, spanning Fourth Amendment suppression, insufficient evidence, sentencing, guilty pleas, and post-conviction relief. Each carries its citation so it can be read in full.
Reversed and remanded for resentencing
2025-Ohio-5756 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2025
Consecutive sentences were vacated because the trial court never made the required finding that consecutive terms were not disproportionate to the danger the defendant posed.
Consecutive sentences
Reversed and remanded
2024-Ohio-16 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2024
Evidence from a warrantless car search was suppressed: once the officer confirmed the headlight worked, the reason for the stop was over, so continuing to detain the driver violated the Fourth Amendment.
Fourth Amendment · suppression
Consecutive sentences reversed and remanded
2023-Ohio-4418 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2023
Consecutive sentences were reversed because the trial court did not make the findings that R.C. 2929.14(C) requires before imposing them.
Consecutive sentences
Reversed and remanded
2023-Ohio-3128 · Eleventh District Court of Appeals (Portage County) · 2023
A post-conviction petition was dismissed without the findings of fact and conclusions of law the statute requires, so the dismissal was reversed.
Post-conviction relief
Reversed and remanded
2021-Ohio-851 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2021
Denying a post-conviction petition without a hearing was an abuse of discretion; newly discovered evidence, if true, could be material and exculpatory under Brady, so the client was entitled to a hearing.
Post-conviction · Brady
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, remanded
2021-Ohio-1299 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2021
A second-degree felony burglary conviction was reversed for insufficient evidence, because the State did not prove that a person was likely to be present in the home.
Insufficient evidence
Reversed and remanded
2019-Ohio-3887 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2019
The conviction was reversed on a Batson challenge: the record showed the State's peremptory strikes reflected a pattern of removing African-American jurors.
Batson · jury selection
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, remanded
2019-Ohio-4054 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2019
Consecutive sentences were reversed where the record did not show the trial court weighed the defendant individually, as R.C. 2929.14(C)(4) requires.
Consecutive sentences
Reversed
2018-Ohio-1846 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2018
An aggravated menacing conviction was reversed for insufficient evidence, because the victim never testified to what the defendant actually said.
Insufficient evidence
Vacated
2015-Ohio-4373 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2015
A felonious assault conviction was reversed for insufficient evidence, where the State's primary witness did not establish the elements of the offense.
Insufficient evidence
Reversed in part
2014-Ohio-3321 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2014
A no-contact order was vacated because the separation of powers bars a trial court from dictating the terms of a defendant's imprisonment.
Sentencing · separation of powers
Reversed
2012-Ohio-3355 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2012
A weapons-under-disability conviction was reversed for insufficient evidence, because the State did not establish that the defendant constructively possessed the guns found in a building.
Insufficient evidence
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, remanded
2013-Ohio-2046 · Third District Court of Appeals (Seneca County) · 2013
The sentence was reversed in part: the written entry conflicted with the sentence pronounced in open court, so the consecutive terms and a no-contact order were vacated for resentencing.
Sentencing error
Reversed, sentence vacated, remanded
2008-Ohio-963 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2008
Although the pat-down was lawful, seizing drugs found during it violated the Fourth Amendment because their incriminating nature was not immediately apparent; the conviction was reversed and the sentence vacated.
Fourth Amendment · suppression
Reversed
2007-Ohio-4835 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2007
The client's statutory speedy-trial rights were violated when the trial date was set beyond the time the statute allows.
Speedy trial
Affirmed in part, reversed in part, remanded
2006-Ohio-6413 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2006
A felonious assault conviction was reversed for insufficient evidence of serious physical harm, where there was no testimony about the severity of the injury.
Insufficient evidence
Reversed and remanded
2006-Ohio-6272 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2006
A guilty plea was vacated because the defendant was not told he would be subject to post-release control before he entered it.
Guilty plea
Reversed, conviction vacated
2005-Ohio-6356 · Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County) · 2005
An aggravated robbery conviction was vacated because the defendant's mere presence at the scene did not prove that he aided or abetted the offense.
Insufficient evidence · complicity
Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case is different. The decisions above are a selection of the firm's reported appellate reversals and do not reflect every matter handled.
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