State v. Packer

243 N.E.2d 115, 16 Ohio App. 2d 171, 45 Ohio Op. 2d 492, 1969 Ohio App. LEXIS 656
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 2, 1969
Docket1219
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 243 N.E.2d 115 (State v. Packer) 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. Packer, 243 N.E.2d 115, 16 Ohio App. 2d 171, 45 Ohio Op. 2d 492, 1969 Ohio App. LEXIS 656 (Ohio Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

Guernsey, P. J.

On January 22, 1956, in case number 3847 in the Common Pleas Court of Marion County, Duane C. Packer, defendant in that case and appellant herein, following a plea of guilty while represented by counsel, was convicted and sentenced for not less than .20 years on a count of abducting for the purpose of extortion, for from 5 to 30 years on a count of conspiracy to abduct, and for life on a count of malicious entry of a bank, the sentences to be served concurrently. On February 10, 1956, Packer was conveyed to the penitentiary to begin serving these sentences. Thereafter, on his appeal from the conviction, it was determined in case number 1131 in this court, on the authority of State v. Cimpritz, 158 Ohio St. 490, that the count of malicious entry was void because it did not state facts constituting a crime. On April 10, 1962, this court rendered its judgment setting aside the conviction and sentence to life imprisonment and discharging the appellant from further prosecution or imprisonment on the invalid count, without prejudice, however, to his being properly indicted and tried. The appellant continued to serve his concurrent sentences on the two other counts of his indictment.

On May 11, 1962, appellant was again indicted for malicious entry of a bank, the indictment being for the same criminal act on which the invalid count had been based, and was convicted after a full trial with the assist *173 anee of appointed counsel. On July 26, 1962, in case number 4332 in the Common Pleas Court of Marion County, that court sentenced him to life imprisonment, but provided that the sentence was to be served consecutively with the sentences he was still serving from his 1956 conviction. No appeal as of right was filed from the 1962 conviction.

Thereafter, appellant sought post-conviction relief from the 1962 conviction on the ground that the constitutional inhibition against double jeopardy prevented him from being tried a second time for the same offense. Post-conviction relief was denied by the trial court and on appeal therefrom in case number 1195 in this court, the judgment of the trial court was affirmed on June 23, 1967, on the authority of State v. Perry, 10 Ohio St. 2d 175, on the ground that this issue could have been raised at the trial or on an appeal from the conviction but was not subject to review in the post-conviction proceeding.

Subsequently, appellant filed motion for leave to appeal from his 1962 conviction on the grounds that he was not, as an indigent, provided with counsel to perfect an appeal as of right therefrom, nor was he advised, nor did he know, of his rights to do so. This motion was granted, and appellant is now before this court, with counsel.

Having abandoned all other assignments of error respecting his 1962 conviction, appellant assigns as error that “the trial court’s failure to give appellant credit for time, served under the 1956 conviction operates to deny the appellant, due process and equal protection of the laws as provided by the Fourteenth Amendment to the- United States Constitution.”

Appellant’s basic argument is not that the maximum sentence under the 1962 conviction is any longer or more severe than was the sentence for malicious entry of a bank under the 1956 conviction, because the life sentence under the latter must, of necessity, be equivalent to the life sentence under the former, but he argues, instead, that the latter sentence'is more severe and constitutionally, improper because,.in its application and effect on his eligibility.for parole, it deprives him of the time already served on the *174 count of malicious entry of a bank under the 1956 conviction. Appellee’s basic arguments are that parole is not a matter of right, but is within the sole discretion of the adult parole authority over which the courts have no control ; that the trial court had the authority to administer a consecutive sentence; and that the time already served by the appellant was being served on the valid counts of the 1956 conviction.

We observe at the outset that the phrase “eligibility for parole,” as used by the appellant and as appearing in many of the parole statutes, is not an accurate phrase. In view of the fact that there is no right to be paroled, and that the granting of parole is within the discretion of the adult parole authority, the right, if any, with which we are here concerned, is the right of eligibility to be considered for parole.

It should also be observed that while this court set aside the original judgment of conviction and sentence for malicious entry of a bank as being void on the authority of State v. Cimprits, 158 Ohio St. 490, we now have to recognize that the Supreme Court has explained and distinguished that case in Midling v. Perrini, Supt., 14 Ohio St. 2d 106, wherein Chief Justice Taft, in an opinion receiving the unanimous concurrence of the other members of the court, states that, with reference to paragraph six of the syllabus of the Cimprits case, it would have been sufficient for the court to have used the word “voidable” instead of “void.” It necessarily follows that it would have been sufficient for this court, in Marion County Case No. 1131, to have also used the word “voidable” instead of “void” when it set aside the appellant’s 1956 conviction for malicious entry of a bank. We will, therefore, in the balance of this decision consider the judgment of conviction and sentence on the defective count to have been voidable and not void. That being the case, there can be no question that until the same was set aside the appellant was actually serving time on an existing, but voidable, sentence rather than serving (except for the existence of the remain *175 ing valid counts and sentences) wholly “dead” time on a void and nonexistent sentence.

Under the provisions of Sections 2941.40 and 2941.43, Revised Code, as they existed in 1962, the 1962 sentence had to be served consecutively with the 1956 sentences. In pertinent parts those statutes provided:

Section 2941.40. “A convict in the penitentiary * * * against whom an indictment * * * for felony is pending, may be removed to the county in which such * * * indictment * * * was pending, for * * * trial * * *.”

Section 2941.43. “If the convict referred to in Section 2941.40 of the Revised Code * * * is sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary, he shall be returned thereto by the sheriff and the term of his imprisonment shall begin at the expiration of the term for which he was in prison at the time of his removal. * * *.”

Section 2941.43 was amended in 1965 (131 Ohio Laws 679) so that the second sentence now reads:

“If he is sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary, he shall be returned thereto by the sheriff and his new term of imprisonment shall, at the direction of the court, begin at the expiration of the term for which he was in prison at the time of his removal or run concurrently with such term, except as otherwise provided in Section 2901.11 of the Revised Code. ’ ’

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
243 N.E.2d 115, 16 Ohio App. 2d 171, 45 Ohio Op. 2d 492, 1969 Ohio App. LEXIS 656, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-packer-ohioctapp-1969.