State v. Celestine

2025 Ohio 1905
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided May 27, 2025·No. WM-24-010·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

WILLIAMS COUNTY

State of Ohio Court of Appeals No. {86}WM-24-010 Appellee Trial Court No. 220CR000240

v.

DECISION AND JUDGMENT

Sammy Celestine, II Decided: May 27, 2025

Appellant

*****

Karin L. Coble, Esq., for appellant.

Katherine J. Zartman, Prosecuting Attorney for appellee.

*****

DUHART, J.

{¶ 1} This is an appeal by appellant, Sammy Celestine, II, from the April 1, 2024 judgment of the Williams County Court of Common Pleas. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the trial court’s judgment.

{¶ 2} Celestine sets forth three assignments of error:

1. The trial court erred by accepting appellant’s guilty plea without advising him of the maximum sentencing for the offense, thereby failing to substantially comply with Crim.R. 11(C).

2. The trial court erred by failing to take appellant’s plea to the RVO specification and therefore appellant did not enter a plea to the RVO specification and the trial court erred by accepting a plea when appellant was not informed.

3. The State committed prosecutorial misconduct by referring to matters outside of the record, speculating on the victim’s mental state, and by showing provocative and inflammatory pictures of the alleged victim at sentencing, causing the trial court to reject a jointly recommended sentence.

Background

{¶ 3} On December 13, 2022, the Williams County Grand Jury indicted Celestine on one count of kidnapping, three counts of attempted murder, and four counts of rape, all felonies of the first degree. Celestine was also indicted on specifications (“specs”): that he committed the kidnapping and attempted murder counts with a sexual motivation, that he is a sexually violent predator, and that he is a repeat violent offender (“RVO”).

{¶ 4} On February 26, 2024, a change of plea hearing was held where, pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, Celestine pled guilty to: one count of attempted murder and the spec that he committed that crime with a sexual motivation, one count of rape and the spec that he is an RVO, and another count of rape. In addition, Celestine stipulated to a separate animus for the crimes, removing the possibility of merger at sentencing; the State agreed to dismiss all other charges and specs at sentencing; and the State agreed to recommend a 12-year prison term, consisting of 11 years for the crimes and an additional year for the RVO spec.

{¶ 5} When accepting the guilty pleas, the trial court engaged in a proper Crim.R.

11 colloquy regarding Celestine’s constitutional rights, and he waived each right. The court, however, did not fully inform Celestine of the maximum penalty for the RVO spec. When the trial court accepted the pleas, it found that Celestine entered a knowing and voluntary admission to the RVO spec.

{¶ 6} On March 19, 2024, the sentencing hearing was held. The prosecutor made a statement on behalf of the State and requested that the trial court impose a 12-year prison sentence, the victim made a statement, and Celestine made a statement. The court then sentenced Celestine to a total prison term of 18 to 23 1/2 years. The court noted the aggregate minimum prison term of 18 years included the one-year term for the RVO spec.

{¶ 7} Celestine timely appealed.

First and Second Assignments of Error

{¶ 8} Since Celestine presents similar arguments in these assigned errors, we will address them together.

{¶ 9} Celestine argues that the trial court failed to substantially comply with Crim.R. 11(C) when it accepted his guilty pleas without advising him of the maximum sentence. He asserts the court did not mention the RVO spec at all, so the court erred by failing to take his plea to the RVO spec. He further contends that the court did not inform him that the RVO spec carries mandatory prison time and must run consecutively and prior to any other prison term imposed, pursuant to R.C. 2929.14(B)(2)(a), but despite the omission, the court found he entered his guilty plea to the RVO spec knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Celestine submits that he “may have reasonably thought that the trial court’s recitation of the offenses and specifications were the correct statement of the jointly-recommended sentence[,]” so his plea was unknowing and involuntary and the plea to the RVO spec must be vacated.

{¶ 10} Celestine notes “when a trial court fails to fully cover other ‘nonconstitutional’ aspects of the plea colloquy, a defendant must affirmatively demonstrate prejudice to invalidate a plea unless a trial court completely fails to comply with a portion of Crim.R. 11(C).” State v. Hall, 2023-Ohio-1229, ¶ 12 (6th Dist.). Celestine maintains that he was prejudiced because the mandatory one-year prison term for the RVO spec was part of a jointly recommended sentence, which the trial court rejected.

{¶ 11} The State counters, as to the first assigned error, that Celestine got exactly what he bargained for on the RVO spec even though the trial court erred by failing to convey the maximum penalty for the spec. The State asserts that it agreed, as part of the plea agreement with the defense, to recommend that Celestine be sentenced to one consecutive year in prison for the RVO spec. The State argues that this recommendation was reiterated at sentencing by the State and the defense, and the court then sentenced Celestine on the RVO spec to this one-year consecutive term, just as negotiated. The State submits that justice would not lie in reversing or remanding on the RVO spec for failing to inform Celestine that he could have received up to nine more years for the spec, since that did not occur. The State contends that just because Celestine was not sentenced as negotiated as to the other crimes does not negate that he received the recommended sentence on the RVO spec.

{¶ 12} Regarding Celestine’s claim that he did not enter a guilty plea to the RVO spec, the State references the plea hearing where the following occurred. The prosecutor stated the terms of the negotiated plea that, inter alia, Celestine will “withdraw . . . the not guilty plea to the repeat violent offender spec . . . [and] [t]he joint recommendation is for twelve (12) years. It would be eleven (11) years on a rape . . . with an additional year on the repeat violent offender specification.” The State submits that Celestine and his lawyer indicated agreement to this recitation. Then, the court explained that it needed to advise Celestine of his rights “before I can accept your guilty pleas to these three (3) charges and to the remaining specifications[.]” The State claims that after Celestine waived his constitutional rights, he indicated he believed his guilty pleas and “these admissions to specifications” were in his best interest and asked the court to accept them. The court found that Celestine “entered a knowing and voluntary admission to [the RVO] specification . . . acknowledging that he is a repeat violent offender” and accepted the admission to the “specific specifications[.]”

Law

{¶ 13} A defendant’s plea must be made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily.

State v. Dangler, 2020-Ohio-2765, ¶ 10, citing Parke v. Raley, 506 U.S. 20, 28-29 (1992). “Failure on any of those points renders enforcement of the plea unconstitutional under both the United States Constitution and the Ohio Constitution.” State v. Engle, 74 Ohio St.3d 525, 527 (1996).

{¶ 14} Crim.R. 11 sets forth the procedures that trial courts are to follow when accepting pleas and “‘ensures an adequate record on review by requiring the trial court to personally inform the defendant of his rights and the consequences of his plea and determine if the plea is understandingly and voluntarily made.’” Dangler at ¶ 11, quoting State v. Stone, 43 Ohio St.2d 163, 168 (1975). Crim.R. 11 states, in pertinent part:

...

(C) Pleas of Guilty . . . in Felony Cases.

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