State v. Bezak

868 N.E.2d 961, 114 Ohio St. 3d 94
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 11, 2007
DocketNo. 2005-0338
StatusPublished
Cited by453 cases

This text of 868 N.E.2d 961 (State v. Bezak) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Bezak, 868 N.E.2d 961, 114 Ohio St. 3d 94 (Ohio 2007).

Opinions

Moyer, C.J.

{¶ 1} Appellant, Jack Bezak, appeals from the judgment of the Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County that vacated his sentence for obstructing justice in violation of R.C. 2921.32 and remanded his case to the trial court for resentencing.

{¶ 2} For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals vacating Bezak’s sentence and modify the remand instructions to the trial court.

{¶ 3} At trial, the state presented evidence, upon which Bezak was convicted, that he had given false information to the police about a parolee who had failed to report to his parole officer. At sentencing, the trial judge stated: ‘Ybu’11 be out in the not too distant future, at that point you won’t have a — probably will not be on post-release control given that it’s a six-month sentence, but I can’t guarantee that.” The trial judge allowed for postrelease control in the journal entry imposing the sentence.

{¶ 4} Bezak appealed his conviction and sentence to the Eighth District Court of Appeals. The court of appeals affirmed the conviction but remanded the case for resentencing pursuant to State v. Jordan, 104 Ohio St.3d 21, 2004-Ohio-6085, 817 N.E.2d 864. The court of appeals stated: “When a trial court fails to properly discharge its statutory duty with respect to postrelease control notifica[95]*95tion, the sentence must be vacated and the matter remanded for resentencing.” State v. Bezak, Cuyahoga App. No. 84008, 2004-Ohio-6623, 2004 WL 2830799, at ¶ 40, citing Jordan at ¶ 28. The court of appeals held that Bezak’s case “must be remanded for resentencing so that appellant may be advised that he is subject to post-release control.” Id. at ¶ 41.

{¶ 5} Bezak filed a motion for reconsideration with the court of appeals, requesting that the court remove the clause that stated “so that appellant may be advised that he is subject to post-release control.” Bezak argued that the clause was ambiguous and requested that the clause be removed to ensure that the trial court would grant Bezak a new sentencing hearing. Bezak’s motion for reconsideration was denied without opinion.

{¶ 6} The question presented is whether, when a court of appeals remands a case for resentencing because of the trial court’s failure to inform the offender at the sentencing hearing that he may be subject to postrelease control, the court must conduct a new sentencing hearing or may instead merely give that information in open court and summarily reimpose the original sentence. We conclude that Bezak was entitled to a de novo sentencing hearing pursuant to Jordan.

{¶ 7} In Jordan, 104 Ohio St.3d 21, 2004-Ohio-6085, 817 N.E.2d 864, this court resolved a conflict between appellate court decisions addressing trial courts that failed at sentencing hearings to inform offenders about postrelease control but incorporated the notice into a sentencing entry. Id. at ¶ 1. We briefly reviewed provisions of Am.Sub.S.B. No. 2, 146 Ohio Laws, Part IV, 7136, effective July 1, 1996, and noted the additional duties imposed on trial courts in furtherance of the General Assembly’s goal of truth in sentencing. We also examined two of our cases: State v. Comer, 99 Ohio St.3d 463, 2003-Ohio-4165, 793 N.E.2d 473, which held that certain findings required by R.C. 2929.19 must be spoken on the record at the sentencing hearing, and State v. Brooks, 103 Ohio St.3d 134, 2004-Ohio-4746, 814 N.E.2d 837, which held that R.C. 2929.19(B)(5) requires a trial court to deliver the statutorily required notification at the sentencing hearing when sentencing an offender to a community-control sanction.

{¶ 8} We determined that the reasoning used in both State v. Comer and State v. Brooks also applied in State v. Jordan and held that “[w]hen sentencing a felony offender to a term of imprisonment, a trial court is required to notify the offender at the sentencing hearing about postrelease control and is further required to incorporate that notice into its journal entry imposing sentence.” State v. Jordan, 104 Ohio St.3d 21, 2004-Ohio-6085, 817 N.E.2d 864, at paragraph one of the syllabus.

{¶ 9} We next considered the question presented when a trial court fails to notify the offender of postrelease control at the sentencing hearing: Should the case be remanded for resentencing or should the postrelease control be eliminat[96]*96ed from the offender’s sentence? We held that “[bjecause a trial court has a statutory duty to provide notice of postrelease control at the sentencing hearing, any sentence imposed without such notification is contrary to law.” State v. Jordan, 104 Ohio St.3d 21, 2004-Ohio-6085, 817 N.E.2d 864, at ¶ 23.

{¶ 10} We relied on our reasoning in State v. Beasley (1984), 14 Ohio St.3d 74, 14 OBR 511, 471 N.E.2d 774 (holding that the trial court’s correction of a statutorily incorrect sentence did not violate appellant’s right to be free from double jeopardy), for the proposition that “where a sentence is void because it does not contain a statutorily mandated term, the proper remedy is * * * to resentence the defendant.” State v. Jordan, 104 Ohio St.3d 21, 2004-Ohio-6085, 817 N.E.2d 864, at ¶ 23.

(¶ 11} As a result, we held in State v. Jordan that “[w]hen a trial court fails to notify an offender about postrelease control at the sentencing hearing but incorporates that notice into its journal entry imposing sentence, it fails to comply with the mandatory provisions of R.C. 2929.19(B)(3)(c) and (d), and, therefore, the sentence must be vacated and the matter remanded to the trial court for resentencing.” Id. at paragraph two of the syllabus.

{¶ 12} Our decision in State v. Jordan controls in this case. The relevant portions of the version of the statute at issue here, former R.C. 2929.19, 2003 Sub.S.B. No. 5, Section 1, were unchanged since Jordan. Here, Bezak was not informed about the imposition of postrelease control at his sentencing hearing. As a result, the sentence imposed by the trial court is void. “The effect of determining that a judgment is void is well established. It is as though such proceedings had never occurred; the judgment is a mere nullity and the parties are in the same position as if there had been no judgment.” (Citations omitted.) Romito v. Maxwell (1967), 10 Ohio St.2d 266, 267-268, 39 O.O.2d 414, 227 N.E.2d 223.

{¶ 13} The court of appeals remanded the matter to the trial court, stating that Bezak’s case “must be remanded for resentencing so that appellant may be advised that he is subject to post-release control.” (Emphasis added.) However, in such a resentencing hearing, the trial court may not merely inform the offender of the imposition of postrelease control and automatically reimpose the original sentence. Rather, the effect of vacating the trial court’s original sentence is to place the parties in the same place as if there had been no sentence. See Romito v. Maxwell, 10 Ohio St.2d at 267, 39 O.O.2d 414, 227 N.E.2d 223. Therefore, the decision to vacate Bezak’s void sentence would require the trial court to resentence Bezak as if there had been no sentence.

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

Related

State v. Harper (Slip Opinion)
2020 Ohio 2913 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2020)
State v. Gilcreast
2020 Ohio 1207 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Bates
2020 Ohio 267 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Conn
2020 Ohio 370 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Florence
2019 Ohio 4365 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Kiser
2019 Ohio 3603 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Snell
2019 Ohio 2251 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
Singfield v. Larose
2019 Ohio 1679 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Tisdale
2019 Ohio 73 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Rembert
2018 Ohio 1928 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Parsons
2018 Ohio 1346 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Henley
2017 Ohio 5828 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
State v. Grimes (Slip Opinion)
2017 Ohio 2927 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2017)
State v. Kwambana
2017 Ohio 1406 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
State v. Sealey
2017 Ohio 338 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
In re N.G.
2014 Ohio 3190 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Ford
2014 Ohio 1859 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Johnston
2013 Ohio 4401 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2013)
State v. Lopez
2013 Ohio 4141 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2013)
State v. Wurzelbacher
2013 Ohio 4009 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
868 N.E.2d 961, 114 Ohio St. 3d 94, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bezak-ohio-2007.