State v. Baldauf

586 N.E.2d 237, 67 Ohio App. 3d 190, 2 Ohio App. Unrep. 150
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 30, 1990
DocketCase 15-88-9
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 586 N.E.2d 237 (State v. Baldauf) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Baldauf, 586 N.E.2d 237, 67 Ohio App. 3d 190, 2 Ohio App. Unrep. 150 (Ohio Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

EVANS, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Municipal Court of Van Wert sentencing appellant, Terry J. Baldauf, upon his conviction for operating a motor vehicle in excess of the speed limit, in violation of R.C. 4511.21(D).

On April 24, 1988, appellant was driving westbound on State Route 81 in Van Wert County. Appellant's vehicle was clockedby radar as travelling 88 miles per hour, 33 miles per hour in excess of the posted speed limit. Appellant was stopped and issued a citationfor violation of R.C. 4511.21(D).

Appellant was arraigned on May 2, 1988, at which time he waived his right to counsel and entered a plea of no contest. The court found appellant guilty of violating R.C. 4511.21(D), operating a motor vehicle in excess of the speed limit. In sentencing appellant the court noted that appellant had two prior convictions, both of which had occurred within one year of the offense at issue herein. On September 4, 1987, appellant was cited for failure to maintain control, in violation of R.C. 4511.202. On November 4, 1987, appellant was cited for failing to obey traffic signal or device, in violation of the Village of Mendon Ordinance, Section 331.19. Appellant waived his right to counsel in one of the prior convictions and forfeited bond in the other. Therefore, appellant was not required to appear before a court for either of these two offenses. Taking these two prior violations into consideration, the court assessed twelve points to appellant's license, fined him $400 and, sentenced him to thirty days in jail, 18 of which *151 are suspended, another 10 of which were suspended conditionally upon appellant completing 40 hours of community service, and placed appellant on probation for a term of one year.

On May 11, 1988, with leave of the court, appellant withdrew his plea of no contest and entered a plea of not guilty. Trial was scheduled for June 16, 1988. At trial, through counsel, appellant modified his plea again to no contest. By judgment entry dated July 28, 1988, the trial court found appellant guilty and reinstated the earlier sentence.

It is from this judgment that appellant appeals submitting three assignments of error as follows:

I.

PRIOR UNCOUNSELED MISDEMEANOR CONVICTIONS CANNOT BE USED TO ENHANCE A SUBSEQUENT VIOLATION OF R.C. 4511.01 TO 4511.76.

II.

A FIRST VIOLATION OF R.C. 4511.21 CANNOT BE ASSESSED 12 POINTS.

III.

WHEN A PERSON IS CHARGED WITH A MINOR MISDEMEANOR HE MUST BE BROUGHT TO TRIAL WITHIN 30 DAYS AS REQUIRED BY R.C. 2945.71(A).

Appellant advances two arguments in support of his first assignment of error. First, appellant argues that a prior uncounseled misdemean- or conviction cannot be used to enhance a subsequent misdemeanor conviction to a higher degree, when the sentence imposed by the court results in imprisonment.

Appellant argues that the United States Supreme Court's per curiam, opinion in Baldasar v. Illinois (1980), 446 U.S. 222, is controlling on this point. See also Scott v. Illinois (1979), 440 U.S. 367.

In Scott, supra at 373, 374, the court stated that:

"* * * actual imprisonment is a penalty different in kind from fines or the mere threat of imprisonment * * * and warrants adoption of actual imprisonment as the line defining the constitutional right to appointment of counsel. * * * We therefore hold that the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution require only that no indigent criminal defendant be sentenced to a term of imprisonment unless the state has afforded him the right to assistance of appointed counsel in his defense."

In Baldasar, supra, the United States Supreme Court held that:

"[a] prior uncounseled misdemeanor conviction could not be used under Illinois' enhanced penalty statute to convert a subsequent misdemeanor into a felony with a prison term". In their concurring opinion at 225, 229, Justices Marshall, Brennan and Stevens reasoned that:

"An uncounseled convictiondoes notbecome more reliable merely because the accused has been validly convicted of a subsequent offense. For this reason, a conviction which is invalid for purposes of imposing a sentence of imprisonment for the offense itself remains invalid for purposes of increasing a term of imprisonmentfor a subsequent conviction under a repeat offender statute." Therefore, they concluded that:

"* * * a rule that held a conviction invalid for imposing a prison term directly, but valid for imposing a prison term collaterally, would be an illogical and unworkable deviation from our previous cases."

In State v. Gerwin (1982), 69 Ohio St. 2d 488 (syllabus), the Ohio Supreme Court, applying Scott and Baldasar, considered a similar issue in holding that:

"[a]n uncounseled misdemeanor conviction for theft may be used under the enhancement provision of R.C. 2913.02(B) to convert the subsequent misdemeanor into a felony when no actual imprisonment results."

In Gerwin, the defendant had been convicted of a prior theft offense. Therefore, upon committing a subsequent theft defendant was convicted of grand theft.

Upon reviewing the relevant United States Supreme Court cases the Ohio Supreme Court concluded that it was not necessaryfor defendant to have been represented by counsel at the prior misdemeanor proceedings. First, defendant was not imprisoned but fined, thus, counsel was not required. Second, the record did not indicate indigency or any financial troubles rendering defendant unable to have obtained counsel in the prior proceedings. Therefore, the uncounseled misdemeanor conviction was valid under Scott. Furthermore, it was valid for converting the subsequent misdemeanor into a felony, so long as no actual imprisonment resulted.

An uncounseled misdemeanor conviction is constitutionally valid where the offender is not sentenced to a term of imprisonment. However, while such a conviction is perfectly valid in and of itself, it is not valid for collateral use in enhancing a subsequent misdemeanor to a higher degree of crime when imprisonment is imposed as the punishment. The criticalpoint upon which these cases have turned is that of imprisonment. *152 In the case sub judice, among other penalties, appellant was sentenced to thirty (30) days imprisonment, 18 days of which were suspended, and 10 days of which were conditionally suspended upon appellant completing40 hours of community service.

Thus, at a minimum appellant was sentenced to serve 2 days in jail.

Appellant'spriormisdemeanordidnotresult in imprisonment and the record does not indicate that appellant was indigent or financially unable to obtain counsel. In fact, appellant waived his right to counsel in one of the prior convictions and forfeited bond in the other.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Walters, 23795 (3-31-2008)
2008 Ohio 1466 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Burgess, Unpublished Decision (8-20-2004)
2004 Ohio 4395 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2004)
State v. Kolvek, Unpublished Decision (7-14-2004)
2004 Ohio 3706 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2004)
State v. Hawkins, Unpublished Decision (2-26-2004)
2004 Ohio 855 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2004)
State v. Thompson
646 N.E.2d 499 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1994)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
586 N.E.2d 237, 67 Ohio App. 3d 190, 2 Ohio App. Unrep. 150, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-baldauf-ohioctapp-1990.