State v. Franklin

912 N.E.2d 1197, 182 Ohio App. 3d 410
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 9, 2009
DocketNo. 08AP-900
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 912 N.E.2d 1197 (State v. Franklin) 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. Franklin, 912 N.E.2d 1197, 182 Ohio App. 3d 410 (Ohio Ct. App. 2009).

Opinions

French, Presiding Judge.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Jesse L. Franklin, appeals from his prison sentences and Tier III sex-offender classification issued by the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. For the following reasons, we affirm.

{¶ 2} The Franklin County Grand Jury indicted appellant on three counts of rape. Pursuant to a plea bargain, appellant pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual battery. The trial court held a sentencing hearing. At the hearing, defense counsel asserted that appellant had an alcohol problem. Appellant was 45 years old at the time of the hearing, and defense counsel noted that appellant had started drinking alcohol when he was 13 years old. Counsel said that appellant completed one treatment program and was in the process of enrolling in another one. Counsel acknowledged that appellant had committed multiple alcohol-related offenses since he was 17. Counsel claimed that appellant’s alcohol problem precipitated the sex offenses, but counsel argued that appellant’s being under the influence of alcohol mitigated the seriousness of the offenses. Counsel requested community control for appellant, but said that if the court were to impose prison time, it should impose “nothing greater” than the three years it imposed on the codefendant.

{¶ 3} The court said that appellant “voluntarily chooses to get intoxicated” and is “responsible for his actions if he is intoxicated.” The court noted that appellant was previously placed on probation for “at least” three offenses, and probation was revoked “at least” for one offense. Because of the seriousness of the sex offenses, the court declined to impose community control. Additionally, the court declined to impose a sentence similar to that of the codefendant’s because the codefendant obtained a favorable sentence in exchange for agreeing to testify against appellant if a trial occurred. The court sentenced appellant to four years’ imprisonment for each count, and the court ordered appellant to serve the sentences consecutively. The court classified appellant as a Tier III sex offender with lifetime registration duties.

{¶ 4} Appellant appeals asserting the following assignments of error:

ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER ONE
The trial court erred when it imposed a prison term of eight years upon the defendant while imposing a three-year term upon the co-defendant, who was involved in the same identical conduct, in violation of the court’s obligation to [413]*413sentence uniformly and fairly and the defendant’s right to equal treatment under the law.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER TWO
The trial court erred in imposing consecutive sentences because the only statutory authority for imposing consecutive terms was held to be unconstitutional in State v. Foster (2006), 109 Ohio St.3d 1[, 845 N.E.2d 470].
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER THREE
The Ohio Supreme Court in State v. Foster, 109 Ohio St.3d 1, 2006-Ohio-856, 845 N.E.2d 470, erroneously held that Ohio’s statutory scheme, that required judges to make certain findings of fact before consecutive sentences could be imposed, was unconstitutional and therefore committed error when it ruled that this portion of the law was unconstitutional and had to be excised. The trial court likewise committed error when it followed this unconstitutional ruling.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER FOUR
Trial counsel was ineffective for failing to properly raise a challenge to the unlawful imposition of consecutive sentences in violation of the defendant’s Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER FIVE
The trial court committed plain error when it imposed consecutive sentences upon the defendant without making the required findings of fact.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER SIX
The trial court erred when it applied Senate Bill 10 to an offense that predated the effective date of the new legislation in violation of the ex post facto provision of Article I, Section 10, of the United States Constitution.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR NUMBER SEVEN
The application of the provisions of Senate Bill 10 to those convicted of offenses committed before its effective date, but sentenced after that date, violate the ban on retroactive laws set forth in Article II, Section 28, of the Ohio Constitution.

{¶ 5} In his first assignment of error, appellant asserts that when the trial court sentenced him to a prison term greater than that of his codefendant, the court violated R.C. 2929.11(B). That section requires courts to impose punishment “consistent with sentences imposed for similar crimes committed by similar offenders.”

{¶ 6} As an initial matter, we must determine the standard of review to apply, given appellant’s challenge. In State v. Burton, 10th Dist. No. 06AP-690, 2007-Ohio-1941, 2007 WL 1196579, ¶ 19, this court held that pursuant to R.C. 2953.08(G), we review whether clear and convincing evidence establishes that a felony sentence is contrary to law.

[414]*414{¶ 7} After Burton, however, in a plurality opinion, the Supreme Court of Ohio established a two-step procedure for reviewing a felony sentence. State v. Kalish, 120 Ohio St.3d 23, 2008-Ohio-4912, 896 N.E.2d 124. The first step is to “examine the sentencing court’s compliance with all applicable rules and statutes in imposing the sentence to determine whether the sentence is clearly and convincingly contrary to law.” Kalish at ¶ 4. If this first step “is satisfied,” the second step requires that the trial court’s decision be “reviewed under an abuse-of-discretion standard.” Id.

{¶ 8} As a plurality opinion, Kalish is of limited precedential value. See Kraly v. Vannewkirk (1994), 69 Ohio St.3d 627, 633, 635 N.E.2d 323 (characterizing prior case as “of questionable precedential value inasmuch as it was a plurality opinion which failed to receive the requisite support of four justices of this court in order to constitute controlling law”). And, since Kalish, this court has continued to rely on the standard applied in Burton and its progeny, i.e., whether clear and convincing evidence establishes that a sentence is contrary to law. In some cases, it appears that we have done so because the appellant argued that an alleged inconsistency with a codefendant’s sentence made the appellant’s sentence contrary to law. See, e.g., State v. Burkes, 10th Dist. No. 08AP-830, 2009-Ohio-2276, 2009 WL 1361955, ¶ 14 (appellant contended his sentence was contrary to law because the state’s justification for longer sentence was invalid); State v. O’Keefe, 10th Dist. No. 08AP-724, 2009-Ohio-1563, 2009 WL 840403, ¶ 37-38 (appellant asserted that his sentence was contrary to law because it was inconsistent with sentences imposed on his codefendants); State v. Hayes, 10th Dist. No.

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Bluebook (online)
912 N.E.2d 1197, 182 Ohio App. 3d 410, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-franklin-ohioctapp-2009.