State v. Martello

780 N.E.2d 250, 97 Ohio St. 3d 398
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 13, 2002
DocketNo. 2001-1048
StatusPublished
Cited by105 cases

This text of 780 N.E.2d 250 (State v. Martello) 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. Martello, 780 N.E.2d 250, 97 Ohio St. 3d 398 (Ohio 2002).

Opinions

Alice Robie Resnick, J.

{¶ 1} We are required to determine whether the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States and Ohio Constitutions preclude a criminal defendant who is sanctioned for violating Ohio’s postrelease control statute, R.C. 2967.28, from being criminally prosecuted for the same conduct that was the reason for the sanction. For the reasons that follow, we find that the criminal prosecution does not offend principles of double jeopardy. We reverse the judgment of the court of appeals.

[399]*399I

Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} In August 1997, defendant-appellee, Joseph Martello, was sentenced on charges of burglary and theft to concurrent six-month prison terms. On February 17, 1998, after serving the six months, appellee was released from custody and placed on postrelease control, including the requirement that he report periodically to a parole officer. Beginning in February 1999, appellee failed to report to his parole officer.

{¶ 3} On March 31, 1999, the Ohio Adult Parole Authority (“APA”) declared appellee to be a “violator at large.” See R.C. 2967.15(C)(1). On September 9, 1999, appellee was indicted on one count of escape pursuant to R.C. 2921.34(A)(1), a felony of the third degree, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. On or about October 27, 1999, appellee was taken into custody. On October 29, 1999, appellee was arraigned in the Ashtabula County Court of Common Pleas on the escape charge and pled not guilty.

{¶ 4} On November 22, 1999, the Ohio Parole Board ruled that appellee’s failure to report to his parole officer on several occasions was a violation of his postrelease control and ordered that appellee be incarcerated for 91 days for this violation. R.C. 2967.28(F)(3). After he served the 91-day term, appellee moved to dismiss the escape charge. Appellee argued that principles of double jeopardy prohibited his prosecution for escape.

{¶ 5} The trial court held a hearing on the motion to dismiss and on April 5, 2000, granted the motion, ruling that the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States and Ohio Constitutions barred appellee’s prosecution for escape because that charge was for the same actions that had already resulted in the 91-day term of incarceration. The court of appeals affirmed the judgment of the trial court.

{¶ 6} The cause is now before this court pursuant to the allowance of a discretionary appeal.

II

Double Jeopardy

{¶ 7} The Double Jeopardy Clause of the United States Constitution, contained in the Fifth Amendment, provides that no “person [shall] be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.” Section 10, Article I of the Ohio Constitution similarly provides, “No person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.” The protections afforded by the two Double Jeopardy Clauses are coextensive. State v. Gustafson (1996), 76 Ohio St.3d 425, 432, 668 N.E.2d 435.

[400]*400{¶ 8} It has long been recognized that double jeopardy principles do not prohibit the imposition of every additional sanction that could be labeled “punishment” in common parlance. Hudson v. United States (1997), 522 U.S. 93, 98-99, 118 S.Ct. 488, 139 L.Ed.2d 450; United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess (1943), 317 U.S. 537, 549, 63 S.Ct. 379, 87 L.Ed. 443. Rather, double jeopardy principles protect “only against the imposition of multiple criminal punishments for the same offense * * * and then only when such occurs in successive proceedings.” (Emphasis deleted.) Hudson, 522 U.S. at 99, 118 S.Ct. 488, 139 L.Ed.2d 450; Helvering v. Mitchell (1938), 303 U.S. 391, 399, 58 S.Ct. 630, 82 L.Ed. 917; Missouri v. Hunter (1983), 459 U.S. 359, 366, 103 S.Ct. 673, 74 L.Ed.2d 535.

{¶ 9} For our purposes here, the question that must be answered is whether appellee’s 91-day term served for his postrelease control violation placed him in jeopardy so that his criminal prosecution for escape under R.C. 2921.34(A)(1),1 which clearly could lead to a “criminal punishment” in double jeopardy terminology for that offense, is forbidden. In order to resolve the issue presented, we must consider the nature of the 91-day prison term administratively imposed on appellee, and determine whether that term imposed for violation of postrelease control should be categorized as “criminal punishment” for double jeopardy purposes, so that appellee was placed in jeopardy by that action. To conduct this analysis, it is first necessary to consider what postrelease control is and then to examine the process by which violators of postrelease control are disciplined.

Ill

Postrelease Control

{¶ 10} This court recently summarized and reviewed the history behind the comprehensive revision of Ohio’s Criminal Code by the General Assembly’s passage of Am.Sub.S.B. No. 2 (“SB 2”) and related legislation, which took effect on July 1, 1996 (146 Ohio Laws, Part IV, 7136). Woods v. Telb (2000), 89 Ohio St.3d 504, 507-509, 733 N.E.2d 1103. One of SB 2’s primary goals was “truth in sentencing,” meaning that the sentence that is imposed by the trial judge is the sentence that actually is served, unless the judge alters it. Id. at 508, 733 N.E.2d 1103.

[401]*401{¶ 11} To foster truth in sentencing, SB 2 eliminated indefinite sentences and parole, two key components of the former sentencing system. Id. In place of parole, SB 2 introduced the concept of postrelease control, which is mandatory for some offenders and is imposed at the discretion of the Parole Board for others. Id.; R.C. 2967.28. “ ‘Post-release control’ means a period of supervision by the adult parole authority after a prisoner’s release from imprisonment that includes one or more post-release control sanctions imposed under section 2967.28 of the Revised Code.” R.C. 2967.01(N).

{¶ 12} The consequences of violating postrelease control sanctions are detailed in R.C. 2967.28(F). R.C. 2967.28(F)(3) authorizes the Parole Board to impose a prison term if the board determines after a hearing that a person released on postrelease control (a “releasee,” see R.C. 2967.01[J]) has violated the sanctions or conditions of the postrelease control.

{¶ 13} R.C. 2967.28(F)(4) specifically provides that a releasee who has violated any postrelease control sanction or conditions by committing a felony “may be prosecuted for the new felony, and, upon conviction, the court shall impose sentence for the new felony. In addition to the sentence imposed for the new felony, the court may impose a prison term for the violation, and the term imposed for the violation shall be reduced by any prison term that is administratively imposed by the parole board or adult parole authority as a post-release control sanction. * * * A prison term imposed for the violation shall be served consecutively to any prison term imposed for the new felony.” Thus, R.C.

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

Related

State v. Bates (Slip Opinion)
2022 Ohio 475 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2022)
State v. Hubbard (Slip Opinion)
2021 Ohio 3710 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2021)
State v. Allenbaugh
2021 Ohio 2177 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2021)
State v. Kelly
2021 Ohio 325 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2021)
State v. Walker
2020 Ohio 5598 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Boyd
2020 Ohio 5181 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Evans
2020 Ohio 3968 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Louis
2020 Ohio 951 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2020)
State v. Kamal
2019 Ohio 3928 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Hale
2019 Ohio 3276 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Simpson
2019 Ohio 2271 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Jones
2019 Ohio 1526 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Robinson
2019 Ohio 387 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2019)
State v. Bishop (Slip Opinion)
2018 Ohio 5132 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2018)
State v. Stuckey
2018 Ohio 4435 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Vogt
2018 Ohio 4457 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. McDonald
2018 Ohio 484 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Soto
2018 Ohio 459 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Carzelle
2018 Ohio 92 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2018)
State v. Hollinger
2017 Ohio 8592 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2017)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
780 N.E.2d 250, 97 Ohio St. 3d 398, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-martello-ohio-2002.