State v. Corder

2021 Ohio 2880
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided August 18, 2021·No. 20CA10·Published

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT HOCKING COUNTY

State of Ohio, : Case No. 20CA10 Plaintiff-Appellee, :

v. : DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY

Andrew Corder, :

Defendant-Appellant. : RELEASED 8/18/2021

APPEARANCES:

Kathyrn Cornelius-Blume, Dagger, Johnston, Miller, Ogilvie & Hampson, LLP, Lancaster, Ohio, for appellant.

Ryan Stickel, Hocking County Prosecutor’s Office, Logan, Ohio, for appellee.

Hess, J.

{¶1} Andrew Corder appeals from a judgment of the Hocking County Court of Common Pleas revoking his judicial release and reimposing his original prison sentence with credit for time served. Corder contends that the state failed to submit competent, credible evidence that he violated the terms of his “probation.” He also contends, and the state concedes, that the trial court erred when it failed to advise him about post-release control at his “probation violation sentencing hearing.” For the reasons that follow, we reject these contentions and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

{¶2} In January 2016, the Hocking County grand jury indicted Corder on the following charges with forfeiture specifications: (1) Count I, unlawful sexual conduct with

Hocking App. No. 20CA10 2

a minor in violation of R.C. 2907.04(A), a third-degree felony; (2) Count II, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in violation of R.C. 2907.04(A), a third-degree felony; (3) Count III, importuning in violation of R.C. 2907.07(B)(1), a fifth-degree felony; (4) Count IV, contributing to the unruliness of or delinquency of a child in violation of R.C. 2919.24(A) (now (B)(1)), a first-degree misdemeanor; and (5) Count V, contributing to the unruliness of or delinquency of a child in violation of R.C. 2919.24(A) (now (B)(1)), a first-degree misdemeanor. Corder ultimately pleaded guilty as charged.

{¶3} In July 2016, the court issued an entry sentencing him to a prison term of 24 months on Count I, 24 months on Count II, 11 months on Count III, 180 days on Count IV, and 180 days on Count V. The court ordered the sentences on “Count I, Count II and Count III to be served consecutive to each other, with the sentences ordered on Count IV and Count V to merge for sentencing for a total term of 4 years 11 months.” The entry states that the court “notified the defendant that post release control is mandatory for FIVE years, as well as the consequences of violating conditions of post release control * * *.”

{¶4} In May 2019, the court issued an entry that granted Corder judicial release under R.C. 2929.20. The court placed him on five years of community control with conditions, including that he successfully complete an appropriate community based correctional facility (CBCF) program and inpatient treatment. The court stated:

Defendant is placed on a Community Control Sanction, and if the conditions of the sanction are violated, * * * the court may (1) lengthen the term of the community control sanction (2) impose a more restrictive community control sanction or (3) impose a prison term on the offender. The reserved term is:

4 years, 11 months (less credit). This Court reserves the right to re-impose the sentence.

{¶5} In December 2019, the state moved the court to revoke Corder’s “supervision” and impose his previously suspended sentence, in part because he was “unsuccessfully terminated” from the Franklin County CBCF. In January 2020, the court issued an entry finding he had violated “the terms and conditions of his community control,” ordering that he “remain under community control sanctions and conditions as originally imposed by the Court” in May 2019, and ordering that he “enter and successfully complete the full 6-month STAR program.” The entry states that if he “violates the rules of community control,” the court can “(1) lengthen the term of the community control sanction (2) impose a more restrictive community control sanctions [sic] or (3) impose the balance of his reserved prison term of 4 years and 11 months minus jail time credit.” The entry also states that the court has “notified the defendant that post release control is mandatory in this case for a period of 5 years, as well as the consequences of violating conditions of post release control * * *.”

{¶6} In August 2020, the state moved the court to revoke Corder’s “supervision”

and impose his previously suspended sentence because he was unsuccessfully terminated from STAR. In September 2020, the court conducted a hearing at which the state introduced into evidence a STAR discharge statement which indicates Corder entered STAR on January 21, 2020, and was unsuccessfully discharged on July 7, 2020, i.e., 11 days before he would have completed the program. The statement indicates he had five major concern slips (one for “out of area,” one for “non-homework compliance,” two for “disrespectful behavior,” and one for “threats of violence”) and 44 minor concern slips. The statement provides that “[s]taff made several attempts to address these

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antisocial behaviors through various levels of interventions,” but “[d]ue to continued rule infractions, it was determined that Mr. Corder is not amenable to treatment at this time.”

{¶7} Cindy Hacker, an employee at STAR Community Justice Center, testified that STAR is “a community behavior therapy facility where we challenge residents’ thoughts and behaviors and try to teach them a new way of living so they don’t go back out into the community and have violations again * * *.” STAR residents receive a handbook of program rules and can receive “major concern” and “minor concern” slips for violations. Major violations “have criminal behavior * * * or criminal intent behind them,” and minor violations relate more to forgetfulness. Hacker testified that “a concern slip is not grievable” but the “corrective action that is attached to it” is. She could not give details about three of Corder’s major violations or his 44 minor violations. She testified that he received a slip for disrespectful behavior because he flipped off another resident in violation of STAR’s rule against profanity. When asked if it is “a major violation whenever someone uses profanity,” Hacker testified that “it can be, absolutely” and that “[w]e typically hold everybody accountable for if they use profanity or if they flip someone off.” Hacker testified that Corder received a slip for threats of violence because he told another resident that he did not know what Corder was like in prison and that Corder “would put a lock in a sock and find him.” Corder claimed the resident had called him a name. Hacker testified that Corder had more interventions than the average resident, and that during them, he acknowledged his violations but tried to justify his behavior. She was not aware of Corder failing any random drug tests given to residents and testified that he attended all STAR classes prior to his discharge. She did not know whether he “put in a

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grievance” to challenge his discharge but knew he met with several administrative staff members prior to his discharge.

{¶8} Diane Allwine, Corder’s parole officer, testified that she had two interventions with Corder while he was in STAR, which is unusual because she typically has “about one with a CBCF.” She believed he understood that he had to successfully complete the STAR program as a condition of his community control. Allwine testified that during their conversations, Corder “seemed compliant. I don’t want to say remorseful, necessarily, but I -- the fact that he understood what was going to happen if he didn’t complete it. He said he would try kind of thing [sic].”

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