State v. Miller

95 N.E.3d 832, 2017 Ohio 7091
CourtCourt of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County
DecidedAugust 3, 2017
DocketNo. 104721
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 95 N.E.3d 832 (State v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth District, Cuyahoga County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Miller, 95 N.E.3d 832, 2017 Ohio 7091 (Ohio Super. Ct. 2017).

Opinion

EILEEN T. GALLAGHER, J.:

ON RECONSIDERATION1

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Harry Miller ("Miller"), appeals his convictions and sentence. Miller raises six assignments of error, but we find the first assigned error has merit and is dispositive of this appeal. It states:

1. The trial court erred in failing to hold a competency hearing prior to accepting the appellant's plea when the issue of his competency was raised prior to trial.

I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 2} Miller was charged with one count of gross sexual imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(4), with a sexual motivation specification, and one count of kidnapping in violation of R.C. 2905.01(A)(4). The charges resulted from an incident in which Miller molested the victim, K.G., in a movie theater.

{¶ 3} K.G.'s grandmother brought K.G. and her brother to see a children's movie titled "The Peanuts Movie." Although the theater was practically empty, Miller chose to sit next to K.G., and rubbed her leg during the film. K.G., who was ten years old, told her grandmother about the incident after the movie. Miller, who remained at the scene to see another children's movie, was arrested later that evening.

{¶ 4} Miller pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping in violation of R.C. 2905.01(A)(3), which no longer included language involving a victim under 13 years of age, and one count of gross sexual imposition, which was amended to delete the sexual motivation specification. The kidnapping and gross sexual imposition counts merged for sentencing purposes, and the state elected to have Miller sentenced on the kidnapping charge. The court sentenced Miller to a ten-year prison term followed by five years of postrelease control. The court also classified Miller as a Tier I sex offender. Miller now appeals his convictions and sentence.

*834II. Law and Analysis

{¶ 5} In the first assignment of error, Miller argues the trial court erred by failing to hold a competency hearing before accepting his guilty plea.

{¶ 6} "Fundamental principles of due process require that a criminal defendant who is legally incompetent shall not be subjected to trial." State v. Berry , 72 Ohio St.3d 354, 359, 650 N.E.2d 433 (1995). A defendant is "incompetent" if he "is incapable of understanding the nature and objective of the proceedings against [him] or of assisting in the defendant's defense." Id.

{¶ 7} If a defendant's competency to stand trial "is raised before the trial has commenced, the court shall hold a hearing on the issue." (Emphasis added.) R.C. 2945.37(B). Therefore, "where the issue of the defendant's competency to stand trial is raised prior to trial, a competency hearing is mandatory." State v. Bock , 28 Ohio St.3d 108, 109, 502 N.E.2d 1016 (1986) ; see also State v. Ahmed , 103 Ohio St.3d 27, 2004-Ohio-4190, 813 N.E.2d 637, ¶ 64 ; State v. Jirousek , 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 99641, 2013-Ohio-4796, 2013 WL 5885384, ¶ 10.

{¶ 8} In Bock , the Ohio Supreme Court held that "the failure to hold a mandatory competency hearing is a harmless error where the record fails to reveal sufficient indicia of incompetency." Id. at 110, 502 N.E.2d 1016. The state argues we should find the court's failure to hold a competency hearing in this case was harmless because an unsworn witness at Miller's sentencing hearing stated that a psychological report from the court's psychiatric clinic indicated he was competent.

{¶ 9} However, this case is distinguishable from Bock . In Bock , the court found the defendant competent because he testified at trial, was subject to cross-examination, and the record failed to reveal sufficient indicia of incompetency. Id. , at paragraph one of the syllabus. In this case, Miller pleaded guilty; he did not testify. At the plea hearing, Miller answered yes or no to questions about whether he understood the rights he was waiving by virtue of his guilty plea. There were no "indicia of competency" on which the court could make an accurate competency determination. Indeed, the record is devoid of any formal finding regarding Miller's competency despite an order referring Miller to the court psychiatric clinic for a competency evaluation.

{¶ 10} The facts of this case are identical to the facts in State v. Flanagan , 2017-Ohio-955, 86 N.E.3d 681, in which this court reversed the defendant's conviction because the trial court failed to hold a competency hearing before accepting the defendant's guilty plea. In Flanagan , we explained:

Unlike in Bock , the record in this case is insufficient to allow us to conclude that the trial court's failure to conduct a competency hearing was harmless error. Although the court psychiatric clinic submitted a report, no further action was taken to determine whether Flanagan was competent-the docket reflects that the parties did not stipulate to Flanagan's competence, the trial court did not hold a hearing to evaluate Flanagan's competence, and the trial court made no formal finding regarding Flanagan's competence after the issue was raised.
Indeed, the docket contains no reference whatsoever to Flanagan's competency after the docket entry referring him for a competency evaluation. And the transcript of the plea hearing demonstrates that the trial court made no reference to the competency report or to Flanagan's competency prior to accepting his plea. After the plea was taken, the trial court *835informed Flanagan of the date for sentencing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 N.E.3d 832, 2017 Ohio 7091, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-miller-ohctapp8cuyahog-2017.