Askew v. Bradshaw

636 F. App'x 342
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 2, 2016
DocketNo. 13-4171
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 636 F. App'x 342 (Askew v. Bradshaw) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Askew v. Bradshaw, 636 F. App'x 342 (6th Cir. 2016).

Opinion

BOGGS, Circuit Judge.

In 2004, an Ohio grand jury indicted appellant Sero Duvall Askew on counts of possession of cocaine and trafficking in cocaine. After the trial court denied Askew’s pretrial motions to suppress evidence, Askew entered a plea of no contest. The trial court sentenced Askew to a term of imprisonment of fifteen years. After Askew was denied a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, an Ohio court vacated Askew’s sentence on state-law grounds, [343]*343conducted a de novo resentencing hearing, and again sentenced Askew to fifteen years of imprisonment. Askew then filed the instant second federal habeas application in 2012, which the district court dismissed on the ground that the petition was “second or successive” within the meaning of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (“AEDPA”). For the reasons given below, we disagree and remand this case to the district court for further consideration of Askew’s petition.

I

On April 26, 2004, a Stark County, Ohio, grand jury indicted Askew on three counts of trafficking in cocaine and three counts of possession of cocaine,. in violation of Ohio law. Askew moved to suppress physical evidence obtained during a consent search of his girlfriend’s house, as well as an inculpatory statement that he had made to officers, contending that his girlfriend’s consent and his own statement were both given involuntarily. After the Ohio Court of Common Pleas denied Askew’s motions, Askew entered a plea of no contest to the indictment. The court accepted Askew’s plea and sentenced him to an aggregate term of fifteen years of imprisonment, suspended his driver’s license for five years, and ordered him to pay a fine of $10,000. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed and the Supreme Court of Ohio declined to hear Askew’s appeal. In 2005, the Court of Common Pleas rejected Askew’s untimely petition for state postconviction relief.

In 2006, Askew turned to the federal courts for relief and filed a pro se petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Northern District of Ohio. Askew brought two claims for relief. First, he argued that the Ohio courts should have suppressed evidence seized as a result of an illegal search of his mobile phone. Second, Askew argued that the Ohio courts had imposed a sentence in violation of Blakely v. Washington, 542 U.S. 296, 124 S.Ct. 2531, 159 L.Ed.2d 403 (2004), and Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000). The district court dismissed Askew’s petition, reasoning that Stone v. Powell, 428 U.S. 465, 96 S.Ct. 3037, 49 L.Ed.2d 1067 (1976), prevented Askew from raising the first claim, and that Askew had procedurally defaulted the second. Askew did not appeal.

In 2008, Askew returned to state court, where he moved to modify his sentence and withdraw his plea of no Contest. The court denied both motions. Askew appealed the court’s denial of his motion to withdraw his plea. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed on the ground that the Court of Common Pleas lacks jurisdiction to rule on a motion to withdraw a guilty plea after an appellate court has affirmed the related conviction on direct appeal.

Askew then filed a motion to revise his sentencing journal entry on the ground that the trial court’s 2004 journal entry never made a finding of guilt as to Askew’s nó-contest plea. Because the Ohio Supreme Court had held in State v. Baker, 119 Ohio St.3d 197, 893 N.E.2d 163 (2008), that a judgment of conviction is an appeal-able order only when the trial court “sign[s] and journalize^]” a document that sets forth the manner of conviction, id. at 166, the Court of Common Pleas agreed that Askew’s sentence had not been properly imposed and granted his motion. Askew subsequently argued, and the State of Ohio conceded, that Askew’s sentence was entirely void because his sentencing entry did not mention the applicable conditions of post-release control, in violation of Ohio Rev.Code § 2929.19(B). The concession was based on the Ohio Supreme Court’s decisions in State v. Singleton, 124 Ohio St.3d 173, 920 N.E.2d 958 (2009), overruled [344]*344by State v. Fischer, 128 Ohio St.3d 92, 942 N.E.2d 332 (2010), and State v. Bezak, 114 Ohio St.3d 94, 868 N.E.2d 961 (2007), overruled by Fischer, 942 N.E.2d 332.

Though the Ohio trial court could have corrected the Baker violation with a nunc pro tunc order amending Askew’s journal entry of conviction, see State v. Lester, 130 Ohio St.3d 303, 958 N.E.2d 142, 144 (2011); see also State v. Clay, 187 Ohio App.3d 633, 933 N.E.2d 296, 301 (2010), the Singleton court had held that any judgment that lacked post-release conditions of control, where relevant, was a legal “nullity” if entered before July 11, 2006, Singleton, 920 N.E.2d at 964. To correct such a legal nullity, the Singleton court required “trial courts [to] conduct a de novo sentencing hearing” and enter post-release conditions of control. Id. at 959. Relying on Singleton, the Court of Common Pleas conducted a de novo resentencing hearing to correct the deficiency in Askew’s judgment. The court observed that “it is undisputed that Mr. Askew’s sentence is void— [A]s a result, we place him in the same position that he would have been in had he never been sentenced — ” Accordingly, the court vacated Askew’s sentence, reviewed a new sentencing memorandum, and heard arguments from both parties, after which the court imposed the same sentence, driver’s-license suspension, and fine as it had in 2004. The court also denied an oral motion in which Askew asked to withdraw his plea of no contest.

Askew appealed, arguing that the Court of Common Pleas should have allowed him to withdraw his plea during the re-sentencing proceeding. Askew also directly challenged his undisturbed conviction in three ways, arguing that the Court of Common Pleas erred in 2004 when it denied his motion to suppress evidence, accepted his plea of no contest without advising him of the correct term of post-release control, and failed to merge his convictions for trafficking in cocaine and possession of cocaine. The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed. State v. Askew, NO.2010CA00069, 2011 WL 578762, at *2 (Ohio Ct.App. Feb. 14, 2011). For the second time, the court explained that in Ohio, “the trial court is without jurisdiction to vacate Appellant’s plea after this Court has affirmed his conviction.” Id. at *1. Relying in part on the then-recent decision of the Ohio Supreme Court in State v. Fischer, 128 Ohio St.3d 92, 942 N.E.2d 332 (2010), the court observed that Ohio law does not permit defendants resentenced pursuant to Singleton to have another opportunity to challenge their undisturbed convictions. Askew, 2011 WL 578762, at *1-2. The court explained that because Askew’s remaining “assignments of error were or could have been raised in his initial appeal to this Court,” he could not raise them again in his appeal from resentencing. Id. at *1. The Supreme Court of Ohio denied leave to appeal. State v. Askew, 129 Ohio St.3d 1478, 953 N.E.2d 843 (2011) (table); State v. Askew, 129 Ohio St.3d 1451, 951 N.E.2d 1047 (2011) (table).

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Bluebook (online)
636 F. App'x 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/askew-v-bradshaw-ca6-2016.