State v. Bloomer

2009 Ohio 2462, 909 N.E.2d 1254, 122 Ohio St. 3d 200
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedJune 9, 2009
Docket2007-0693, 2007-1415, and 2007-1439
StatusPublished
Cited by203 cases

This text of 2009 Ohio 2462 (State v. Bloomer) 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. Bloomer, 2009 Ohio 2462, 909 N.E.2d 1254, 122 Ohio St. 3d 200 (Ohio 2009).

Opinions

O’Donnell, J.

{¶ 1} Three separate cases have been consolidated for purposes of review and combined for a single opinion where we again confront the consequences of the trial court’s failure to either notify an offender about postrelease control at the time of sentencing or incorporate postrelease control into its sentencing entry. The issues presented here also concern the application of R.C. 2929.191, which provides a mechanism for correcting a judgment entry if a trial court fails to notify the offender of postrelease control or to impose it.

I. History and Overview

{¶ 2} R.C. 2967.28(B) requires a sentencing court imposing a prison term on a first- or second-degree felony offender or certain other offenders to notify them that a period of mandatory postrelease control will be imposed by the parole board upon release from prison.1 In addition, R.C. 2929.19 mandates that a court, when imposing sentence, must notify the offender at the hearing that he will be supervised pursuant to R.C. 2967.28 and that upon violating supervision or [201]*201a condition of postrelease control, the parole board may impose a prison term of up to one-half of the prison term originally imposed upon the offender. See, e.g., R.C. 2929.19(B)(3)(c) and (e).

{¶ 3} This court has previously addressed the consequences of a sentencing court’s failure to follow the requirements of these and other sentencing statutes in a series of cases beginning with State v. Beasley (1984), 14 Ohio St.3d 74, 14 OBR 511, 471 N.E.2d 774. There, we considered whether the trial court’s erroneous imposition of a sentence less than the minimum prescribed by statute and its subsequent correction of that sentence violated the defendant’s constitutional guarantee against double jeopardy. Id. at 75,14 OBR 511, 471 N.E.2d 774. We recognized that “[a]ny attempt by a court to disregard statutory requirements when imposing a sentence renders the attempted sentence a nullity or void.” Id. Because jeopardy does not attach to a void sentence, we held that the court’s subsequent correction of the void sentence did not violate double jeopardy. Id.

{¶ 4} Next, in Woods v. Telb (2000), 89 Ohio St.3d 504, 733 N.E.2d 1103, we considered whether R.C. 2967.28, which authorized the parole board to impose discretionary postrelease control for Woods’s theft offense, violated the separation of powers doctrine.2 We concluded that the parole board’s statutory authority to impose postrelease control did not violate the separation of powers doctrine provided, however, that the trial court incorporated postrelease control into its entry at the time of sentencing. Id. at 512-513, 733 N.E.2d 1103.

{¶ 5} In State v. Jordan, 104 Ohio St.3d 21, 2004-Ohio-6085, 817 N.E.2d 864, we considered the consequences of a trial court’s failure to advise an offender about postrelease control at the sentencing hearing. Id. at ¶ 1. Applying Beasley, 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” and void. Id. at ¶ 23.

{¶ 6} We again confronted a sentencing court’s failure to notify an offender or incorporate postrelease control into its sentencing entry in Hernandez v. Kelly, 108 Ohio St.3d 395, 2006-Ohio-126, 844 N.E.2d 301; however, discovery of the sentencing error did not occur until after the offender had been released from prison, placed on postrelease control by the parole board, and subsequently reimprisoned for violating the terms of postrelease control. Id. at ¶ 5-7, 10. We granted Hernandez a writ of habeas corpus in conformity with our decisions in Jordan and Woods, holding that the parole board lacked authority to impose [202]*202postrelease control because the trial court had failed to notify the offender of postrelease control or to incorporate it into the sentencing entry, and Hernandez had finished serving that sentence at the time the error was discovered. Id. at ¶ 32.

{¶ 7} Following Hernandez, we denied a petition for a writ of prohibition to vacate a resentencing entry imposing a mandatory period of postrelease control. State ex rel. Cruzado v. Zaleski, 111 Ohio St.3d 353, 2006-Ohio-5795, 856 N.E.2d 263, ¶ 1. In contrast to Hernandez, the court discovered the sentencing error before the inmate had completed serving the sentence and therefore conducted a resentencing hearing and imposed a mandatory three-year period of postrelease control. Id. at ¶ 9-11. Citing Beasley and Jordan, and distinguishing Hernandez on the basis that Cruzado had not yet completed his sentence, we held that the trial court did not patently and unambiguously lack jurisdiction to correct the sentence. Id. at ¶ 19-28, 32.

{¶ 8} More recently, in State v. Bezak, 114 Ohio St.3d 94, 2007-Ohio-3250, 868 N.E.2d 961, we concluded that an offender is entitled to a new sentencing hearing for the trial court to correct a sentence that omitted notice of postrelease control. Id. at syllabus. However, because Bezak had already completed his term of imprisonment, the court could not conduct resentencing. Id. at ¶ 18.

{¶ 9} Most recently, in State v. Simpkins, 117 Ohio St.3d 420, 2008-Ohio-1197, 884 N.E.2d 568, ¶ 6, we stated: “[I]n cases in which a defendant is convicted of, or pleads guilty to, an offense for which postrelease control is required but not properly included in the sentence, the sentence is void, and the state is entitled to a new sentencing hearing to have postrelease control imposed on the defendant unless the defendant has completed his sentence.”

{¶ 10} In conformity with the development of this jurisprudence, the General Assembly enacted Sub.H.B. No. 137 (“H.B. 137”), effective July 11, 2006, which amended R.C. 2967.28, 2929.14, and 2929.19 and enacted R.C. 2929.191 to provide a mechanism for correcting sentences in which the trial court failed either to notify the offender of postrelease control or to incorporate it into the sentencing entry.

{¶ 11} As amended, R.C. 2967.28(B) now provides:

{¶ 12} “Section 2929.191 of the Revised Code applies if, prior to July 11, 2006, a court imposed a sentence including a prison term of a type described in this division and failed to notify the offender pursuant to division (B)(3)(c) of section 2929.19 of the Revised Code regaining post-release control or to include in the judgment of conviction entered on the journal or in the sentence pursuant to division (F)(1) of section 2929.14 of the Revised Code a statement regarding post-release control.”

[203]*203{¶ 13} Likewise, R.C. 2929.14(F)(1) and 2929.19(B)(3)(c) and (e), as amended by H.B. 137, now provide that if a court imposed a sentence before July 11, 2006, and failed to either notify the offender of postrelease control or to include postrelease control in the judgment entry, then R.C. 2929.191 applies.

{¶ 14} R.C. 2929.191 provides:

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

Related

State v. Ullman
2022 Ohio 4683 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2022)
State v. Conn
2020 Ohio 370 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Clark
2019 Ohio 3196 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. McCullum
2019 Ohio 2608 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Moore
2019 Ohio 1467 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Buxton
2018 Ohio 4150 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Bigelow
2018 Ohio 3508 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Hutter
2018 Ohio 3488 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Parsons
2018 Ohio 1346 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Arszman
2017 Ohio 7581 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
Ohio Dep't of Medicaid v. Thomas Price
864 F.3d 469 (Sixth Circuit, 2017)
State v. Hendricks
2017 Ohio 259 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
In re D.C.
2017 Ohio 114 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)
State v. Cowan
2016 Ohio 8045 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2016)
State v. Mace
2014 Ohio 3040 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Brown
2014 Ohio 2551 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Sneed
2014 Ohio 1438 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Ingels
2014 Ohio 363 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
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)
2009 Ohio 2462, 909 N.E.2d 1254, 122 Ohio St. 3d 200, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-bloomer-ohio-2009.