State v. Miranda

2014 Ohio 451, 5 N.E.3d 603, 138 Ohio St. 3d 184
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 12, 2014
Docket2012-1741
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 2014 Ohio 451 (State v. Miranda) 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. Miranda, 2014 Ohio 451, 5 N.E.3d 603, 138 Ohio St. 3d 184 (Ohio 2014).

Opinions

[185]*185Kennedy, J.

{¶ 1} In this discretionary appeal from the Tenth District, we determine whether a trial court can impose separate sentences for engaging in a pattern of criminal activity under R.C. 2923.32(A)(1) (“RICO”1) and for the underlying predicate offenses. The appellant, Arnaldo R. Miranda, advances one proposition of law:

Ohio appellate courts are required to apply the new standard announced in State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153, 2010-Ohio-6314, 942 N.E.2d 1061[,] when deciding whether the imposition of multiple convictions and sentences for the offense of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and one or more of its predicate felonies violates R.C. 2941.25 (the Allied Offenses Statute) and a defendant’s rights under the Double Jeopardy Clauses of [the] Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 10 of the Ohio Constitution.

{¶ 2} Appellee, the state of Ohio, argues that the prohibition against multiple punishments for allied offenses of similar import is not applicable, because the General Assembly, as evidenced in the RICO statute, intended that courts may sentence defendants for both the RICO violation and the predicate offense.

{¶ 3} We hold that Johnson is not applicable to a RICO violation and that a RICO offense does not merge with its predicate offenses for purposes of sentencing. We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

I. Facts and Procedural History

{¶ 4} The state’s investigation revealed that Arnaldo Miranda was involved in a marijuana-trafficking ring. Consequently, the state charged Miranda with one RICO violation under R.C. 2923.32(A)(1) and six predicate offenses (three counts of trafficking in marijuana and three counts of possessing marijuana). Miranda pleaded guilty to the RICO count and one count of trafficking in marijuana under R.C. 2925.03. The state dismissed the remaining counts. In addition to other sanctions, the trial court imposed a six-year prison term for the RICO offense and an eight-year prison term for the trafficking offense, to be served consecutively, for an aggregate prison term of 14 years. Miranda did not object to the sentence at the sentencing hearing.

[186]*186{¶ 5} Miranda appealed, asserting that the trial court’s imposition of consecutive prison sentences for the RICO offense and the predicate offense of trafficking in drugs violated the Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States and Ohio Constitutions. He contends that the offenses were allied offenses of similar import and should have been merged for purposes of sentencing under R.C. 2941.25(A), which protects defendants from multiple punishments for a single criminal act. The court of appeals held that double jeopardy was not implicated, because the General Assembly intended that a defendant convicted of a RICO violation could be sentenced for both the RICO offense and its predicate offenses. Therefore, the court of appeals affirmed Miranda’s separate sentences.

II. Analysis

A. Double Jeopardy, Multiple Sentences, and RICO

{¶ 6} “The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment, applicable to the States through the Fourteenth Amendment, provides: ‘[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb.’ ” Monge v. California, 524 U.S. 721, 727, 118 S.Ct. 2246, 141 L.Ed.2d 615 (1998). The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Ohio Constitution, Article I, Section 10, provides the same protection. State v. Martello, 97 Ohio St.3d 398, 2002-Ohio-6661, 780 N.E.2d 250, ¶ 7. Both clauses protect a defendant against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal, a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction, and multiple punishments for the same offense. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 717, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656 (1969). In this case, Miranda claims that he was punished twice for the same offense when the trial court sentenced him for both the RICO violation and for the predicate offense of trafficking in drugs. However, “[w]ith respect to cumulative sentences imposed in a single trial, the Double Jeopardy Clause does no more than prevent the sentencing court from prescribing greater punishment than the legislature intended.” Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U.S. 359, 366, 103 S.Ct. 673, 74 L.Ed.2d 535 (1983). Therefore, we must determine “whether the General Assembly intended to permit multiple punishments for the offenses at issue.” State v. Childs, 88 Ohio St.3d 558, 561, 728 N.E.2d 379 (2000).

{¶ 7} “[T]he primary legislative statement on the multiplicity issue is found in R.C. 2941.25, concerning allied offenses of similar import.” Id. That statute provides, “Where the same conduct can be construed to constitute two or more allied offenses of similar import, the indictment or information may contain counts for all such offenses, but the defendant may be convicted of only one.”

{¶ 8} In State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153, 2010-Ohio-6314, 942 N.E.2d 1061, we held that R.C. 2941.25(A) requires the sentencing court to first determine “whether it is possible to commit one offense and commit the other with the same [187]*187conduct.” (Emphasis sic.) Id. at ¶ 48. If the defendant’s conduct constituting commission of one offense constitutes commission of the other, then the offenses are of similar import, and the court must then decide whether the offenses were committed with a single state of mind, i.e., a single animus. Id. at ¶ 48-49. If so, the offenses are allied offenses of similar import that must be merged, and the defendant can be punished for only one. Id. at ¶ 50.

{¶ 9} Alternatively, if it is not possible to commit the offenses with the same conduct, or if the offenses were committed separately or with a separate animus, then the court may sentence the defendant for all the offenses at issue. Id. at ¶ 51.

{¶ 10} “R.C. 2941.25, however, is not the sole legislative declaration in Ohio on the multiplicity of indictments.” Childs at 561. “While our two-tiered test for determining whether offenses constitute allied offenses of similar import is helpful in construing legislative intent, it is not necessary to resort to that test when the legislature’s intent is clear from the language of the statute.” State v. Brown, 119 Ohio St.3d 447, 2008-Ohio-4569, 895 N.E.2d 149, ¶ 37. R.C. 2941.25 generally provides the appropriate test to determine whether the court may impose multiple punishments for offenses arising from the same conduct. However, in this case, we find that the RICO statute evinces the General Assembly’s intent that a court may sentence a defendant for both the RICO offense and its predicate offenses.

{¶ 11} We begin our analysis by examining Ohio’s RICO statute, R.C. 2923.32(A)(1). “The primary goal in construing a statute is to ascertain and give effect to the intent of the legislature.” State ex rel.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2014 Ohio 451, 5 N.E.3d 603, 138 Ohio St. 3d 184, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-miranda-ohio-2014.