State v. Paige (Slip Opinion)

2018 Ohio 813, 103 N.E.3d 800, 153 Ohio St. 3d 214
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided March 7, 2018·No. 2016-1848·Published·Cited by 42 cases

Opinion

O'Connor, C.J.

*215 {¶ 1} In this appeal, we review a sentence consisting of community-control sanctions, including a community-residential sanction, imposed for one offense, to run concurrently with a prison term imposed for a separate offense. We conclude that the concurrent term of community control was proper but that the residential-sanction portion of the sentence was not authorized by statute. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Eighth District Court of Appeals.

RELEVANT BACKGROUND

{¶ 2} Appellee, Michael T. Paige, pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual battery, *802 abduction, and domestic violence. For sentencing purposes, the trial court merged the sexual-battery and abduction counts, and the state elected to proceed with sentencing on the sexual-battery count.

{¶ 3} On the sexual-battery count, the trial court sentenced Paige to serve a 42-month prison term, minus jail-time credit, followed by five years of mandatory postrelease control. On the domestic-violence count, the court sentenced Paige to five years of community-control supervision. The community-control sentence included several conditions, including that upon his release from prison for the sexual-battery count, Paige must return to the county jail for assessment and transfer to a community-based correctional facility ("CBCF"). As additional conditions of the community-control sentence, the trial court ordered Paige to successfully complete an anger-management program and prohibited him from having contact with the victim while on community control. The trial court also imposed three years of mandatory postrelease control and classified Paige as a Tier III sex offender.

{¶ 4} On appeal to the Eighth District Court of Appeals, Paige asserted the following assignment of error:

The trial court erred in [imposing] a sentence, which included both a prison term and community control sanctions at the same time, and where the community control sanctions continued after the completion of the prison sentence, which also included additional confinement in CBCF.

*216 (Brackets sic.) 2016-Ohio-7615 , 2016 WL 6575332 , ¶ 1. The appellate court agreed and vacated the sentence on the domestic-violence count. It concluded that because Paige was ordered to serve a portion of the community-control sentence in prison and a portion upon release in a CBCF, the sentence on the domestic-violence count was a "split sentence" not permitted by statute. Id. at ¶ 8.

{¶ 5} We accepted jurisdiction over the state's discretionary appeal. 150 Ohio St.3d 1407 , 2017-Ohio-6964 , 78 N.E.3d 908 .

ANALYSIS

{¶ 6} Split sentences are prohibited in Ohio. Generally, pursuant to the felony-sentencing statutes, a court must impose either a prison term or a community-control sanction as a sentence for a particular felony offense-a court cannot impose both for a single offense. State v. Anderson , 143 Ohio St.3d 173 , 2015-Ohio-2089 , 35 N.E.3d 512 , ¶ 31. The trial court complied with that rule here by imposing a prison sentence on the sexual-battery count and, separately, a five-year period of community control on the domestic-violence count. Thus, the trial court did not impose a split sentence.

{¶ 7} Paige argues, however, that the "effective sentence" on the domestic-violence count is both a prison term and community-control supervision because the prison term is "incorporated" into the term of community control as a result of the concurrently running sentences on each offense. The court of appeals also seemed to view the sentences on each offense together when it concluded that "by making the community control sentence longer than that imposed for the sexual battery count, the trial court imposed a split sentence for the domestic violence count, which is prohibited." 2016-Ohio-7615 , 2016 WL 6575332 , at ¶ 10.

{¶ 8} We have been clear that the "sentencing package" doctrine, by which federal courts may consider multiple offenses *803 as a whole and impose an overarching sentence, is not applicable in Ohio's state courts, and "appellate courts may not utilize the doctrine when reviewing a sentence or sentences." State v. Saxon , 109 Ohio St.3d 176 , 2006-Ohio-1245 , 846 N.E.2d 824 , ¶ 10. Thus, the court of appeals erred to the extent that it considered the sentences for each offense together as a whole. The only task before us is to determine whether the community-control sentence imposed on the domestic-violence count was proper.

{¶ 9} We agree with the state that the mere fact that the sentences on each offense were to run concurrently does not mean that the community-control sentence imposed on the domestic-violence count included a prison term.

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State v. Paige (Slip Opinion), 2018 Ohio 813, 103 N.E.3d 800, 153 Ohio St. 3d 214 (Ohio 2018).

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