On Friday, August 2, 2024, Dajuan Banks filed a complaint with the Ohio Supreme Court against Judge Marisa Comachio and the Willoughby Municipal Court.
Banks, who is currently incarcerated at Grafton Correctional Institution, alleges that the Willoughby Municipal Court improperly exercised jurisdiction over his 2007 aggravated murder case. According to Banks, the alleged crime took place in Eastlake, Ohio but he was arrested at his Cleveland home by Eastlake police officers, who do not have jurisdiction outside their city limits.
Banks claims Eastlake police brought him to their jail without an arrest warrant. He argues this violated his constitutional rights to due process. Banks filed a motion to dismiss the case in Willoughby Municipal Court, claiming the court lacked territorial jurisdiction. However, the motion was denied.
Banks was ultimately bound over to the Lake County Common Pleas Court after waiving his preliminary hearing in Willoughby Municipal Court in October 2007. He was later convicted and sentenced to prison.
In his current complaint, Banks asks the Ohio Supreme Court to issue a writ of prohibition preventing the municipal court from taking any further action in his case, since he believes the court improperly exercised jurisdiction from the beginning.
The court’s jurisdiction covers criminal misdemeanor cases arising within Willoughby and several other cities and townships in Lake County. However, Banks argues the court lacked jurisdiction over his felony aggravated murder case since the alleged crime did not take place within Willoughby city limits.
A copy of the original filing can be found here.
