State v. Runnels

565 N.E.2d 610, 56 Ohio App. 3d 120, 1989 Ohio App. LEXIS 93
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 23, 1989
Docket55128
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 565 N.E.2d 610 (State v. Runnels) 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. Runnels, 565 N.E.2d 610, 56 Ohio App. 3d 120, 1989 Ohio App. LEXIS 93 (Ohio Ct. App. 1989).

Opinion

John V. Corrigan, J.

An indictment was returned against the defendant-appellant Pennie Runnels, charging her with one count of aggravated vehicular homicide, in violation of R.C. 2903.06, with four specifications, including a violence specification, a suspension specification, a DWI specification, and a repeat offender specification.

The uncontroverted facts establish the following: On July 7, 1987, at approximately 6:45 p.m., the defendant, Pennie Runnels, was driving an automobile westbound on Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. She went through the intersection of Forest Hills Boulevard and collided with the side of an automobile driven by Edward Broughton, who was proceeding southward on Forest Hills Boulevard. Two women were passengers in the automobile driven by Broughton.

All parties were taken to Huron Road Hospital by ambulance. Brough-ton was pronounced dead at 7:25 p.m. from injuries he sustained in the accident. The defendant was admitted for treatment of her injuries.

Upon admission to the emergency room at Huron Road Hospital, the defendant was placed under arrest and charged with running a red light, driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving while under suspension. These charges were later changed to aggravated vehicular homicide following Broughton’s death.

The matter came up for hearing and trial on December 8,1987. A hearing was had on the appellant’s pretrial motion to suppress the results of a blood-alcohol test which was taken without the appellant’s consent while she was hospitalized immediately following the automobile accident. The appellant’s motion to suppress was denied.

The appellant then entered a plea of no contest to the charge of ag *121 gravated vehicular homicide, with the violence, DWI and repeat offender specifications. Defense counsel, however, reserved the right to argue whether the defendant should receive a definite or indefinite sentence.

Following the defendant’s no contest plea and the court’s subsequent finding of guilt, the trial court sentenced the appellant to a term of imprisonment for three to five years and revoked her driving privileges for life.

The appellant now appeals her sentence, bringing six assignments of error.

The first four assignments of error claim:

“I. It was prejudicial error for the trial court to sentence the appellant to an indefinite term of imprisonment where she was convicted of a fourth degree felony which is not an offense of violence pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 2901.01(1) and where the offense of aggravated vehicular homicide cannot be committed •without inflicting physical harm.

“II. It was prejudicial error for the trial court to impose an indefinite term of imprisonment on the appellant where the gravamen of the offense for which appellant was convicted cannot be committed without causing death and where the record is silent as to the deceased’s condition following the accident and prior to death.

“HI. The trial court committed prejudicial error in failing to find that the application of a physical violence specification pursuant to Ohio Revised Code Section 2941.143, to the appellant, who was convicted of aggravated vehicular homicide, deprived the appellant of her rights to equal protection and due process of law as guaranteed by Article I, Section 2 of the Ohio Bill of Rights, Article II, Section 26 of the Ohio Constitution and the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.

“IV. The trial court committed reversible error when it imposed an indefinite sentence of imprisonment against the appellant in light of the fact that Ohio Revised Code Section 2941.143 is void for vagueness as it is applied to Ohio Revised Code Section 2903.06.”

With these assignments of error, the appellant contests the court’s consideration of the violence specification in sentencing her to an indefinite term of incarceration upon finding her guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide. The appellant contends that violence is inherently part of aggravated vehicular homicide, and that a separate violence specification is unwarranted.

I

In her first two assignments of error, the appellant contends that a violence specification is inapplicable to a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide since the offense is not statutorily categorized as an “offense of violence” under R.C. 2901.01(1). The appellant further contends that the addition of a violence specification on a charge of aggravated vehicular homicide results in an arbitrary enhancement of punishment, at the discretion of the prosecutor, since the offense cannot be committed without causing physical harm. We are unpersuaded by these arguments.

R.C. 2903.06 provides that aggravated vehicular homicide, wherein an offender is found to have recklessly caused the death of another, is a fourth degree felony. R.C. 2929.11(B)(7) provides:

“For a felony of the fourth degree, the minimum term shall be eighteen months, two years, thirty months, or three years, and the maximum term shall be five years.”

Thereafter, R.C. 2929.11(D) provides:

“Whoever is convicted of or pleads *122 guilty to a felony of the third or fourth degree and did not, during the commission of that offense, cause physical harm to any person * * * and who has not previously been convicted of an offense of violence shall be imprisoned for a definite term, and, in addition, may be fined or required to make restitution. * * *” (Emphasis added).

R.C. 2941.143 proscribes the imposition of an indefinite term pursuant to R.C. 2929.11(B)(6) or (7) unless the indictment under which the defendant is convicted specifies either that, during the commission of the offense, the offender caused physical harm to any person or threatened physical harm with a deadly weapon, or that the offender has previously been convicted of or pleaded guilty to an offense of violence. R.C. 2901.01(C) defines “physical harm to persons” as “any injury, illness, or other physiological impairment, regardless of its gravity or duration.”

This court has previously found that the violence specification is not an element of aggravated vehicular homicide, but rather a factor which permits the imposition of an indefinite sentence. State v. Kavlich (1986), 33 Ohio App. 3d 240, 515 N.E. 2d 652; State v. Jones (Apr. 3, 1986), Cuyahoga App. No. 50362, unreported. In line with this reasoning, we have held that a violence specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.143 may be included in an indictment for aggravated vehicular homicide, R.C. 2903.06(A). State v. Kavlich, supra, at paragraph three of the syllabus.

We find the language of R.C. 2929.11 and 2941.143 to be unequivocal: where an individual is found guilty of a fourth degree felony and where that individual has caused physical harm to any person during the commission of the offense, as charged in the indictment, the law permits an indefinite sentence to be imposed.

It is of no consequence that the offense is not included as one of the offenses of violence set forth in R.C.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
565 N.E.2d 610, 56 Ohio App. 3d 120, 1989 Ohio App. LEXIS 93, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-runnels-ohioctapp-1989.