State v. Schmitt

888 N.E.2d 479, 175 Ohio App. 3d 600, 2008 Ohio 1010
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 10, 2008
DocketNo. 10-07-13.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 888 N.E.2d 479 (State v. Schmitt) 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. Schmitt, 888 N.E.2d 479, 175 Ohio App. 3d 600, 2008 Ohio 1010 (Ohio Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Rogers, Judge.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Steven Schmitt, appeals the judgment of the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas resentencing him to notify him of postrelease control. On appeal, appellant asserts that the trial court could not impose postrelease control at a later date; that when postrelease control is not imposed during the original sentencing, a defendant is not subject to postrelease control; that if postrelease control may be imposed at a later date, the trial court must conduct a new sentencing hearing; that the state waived the issue of postrelease control by failing to appeal it; and that R.C. 2929.191 violates the one-subject rule. Based on the following, we affirm in part and reverse in part, and we remand the cause to the trial court.

{¶ 2} In April 2005, the Mercer County Grand Jury indicted Schmitt for one count of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(2), a felony of the second degree, and one count of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1), also a felony of the second degree. Schmitt entered a plea of not guilty to both counts.

{¶ 3} In June 2005, Schmitt withdrew his not-guilty plea and entered a negotiated plea of guilty to the second felonious assault count in exchange for a dismissal of the first count. 1

*604 {¶ 4} In August 2005, the trial court sentenced Schmitt to a four-year prison term. The trial court failed to include any information about postrelease control in its judgment entry of sentencing.

{¶ 5} In March 2006, the trial court sua sponte issued a nunc pro tunc entry, in which it provided that Schmitt “may be required to serve a period of postrelease control under the supervision of the parole board.”

{¶ 6} In April 2006, the trial court rescinded its March 2006 nunc pro tunc entry, noting that it had reviewed the sentencing hearing record and determined that it had failed to notify Schmitt about postrelease control at that time.

{¶ 7} In May 2007, Schmitt moved for judicial release and requested a hearing.

{¶ 8} In June 2007, the trial court held a judicial-release hearing and denied judicial release. At the hearing, the state orally moved the trial court to notify Schmitt about postrelease control pursuant to R.C. 2929.191, which the trial court granted over Schmitt’s objection. The trial court then proceeded to notify Schmitt of postrelease control following his release from prison and the ramifications of violating it.

{¶ 9} In July 2007, the trial court issued a judgment entry correcting the judgment of conviction concerning postrelease control.

{¶ 10} It is from this judgment that Schmitt appeals, presenting the following assignments of error for our review.

Assignment of Error No. I

If a trial court does not advise a defendant at sentencing that post release control is or may be imposed, it may not do so at a later date.

Assignment of Error No. II

When a trial court does not impose post release control at sentencing, the appropriate action is to rule that the defendant is not subject to post release control.

Assignment of Error No. Ill

If a trial court is authorized to impose post release control at a later time when it failed to do so at the original sentencing, the proper procedure is a new, complete sentencing hearing.

*605 Assignment of Error No. TV

If no direct appeal of the original sentencing of appellant was taken by the state, it may not now ask the court to impose post release control.

Assignment of Error No. V

ORC 2929.191 is unconstitutional for violation of the single subject Rule 11 [sic] of the Ohio Constitution and in violation of the Due Process and Double Jeopardy Clauses of the United States and Ohio Constitutions.

{¶ 11} Due to the nature of Schmitt’s assignments of error, we elect to address his assignments of error out of order and his first and second assignments of error together.

Assignments of Error Nos. I and II

{¶ 12} In his first assignment of error, Schmitt asserts that if a trial court fails to notify a defendant about postrelease control at the time of the original sentencing, it may not do so at a later date. In his second assignment of error, Schmitt asserts that when a trial court fails to notify a defendant of postrelease control during the original sentencing, the appropriate action is to rule that the defendant is not subject to postrelease control. Essentially, Schmitt argues that the trial court’s imposition of postrelease control at a later date violated finality-of-sentencing and double-jeopardy principles and that resentencing him post- Foster violated his due-process rights. We disagree.

{¶ 13} Generally, “[o]nce a sentence has been executed, the trial court loses jurisdiction to amend or modify the sentence.” State v. Carr, 3d Dist. Nos. 14-05-48 to 14-05-50, 2006-Ohio-3073, 2006 WL 1667982, ¶3, citing State v. Garretson (2000), 140 Ohio App.3d 554, 748 N.E.2d 560; see also State ex rel. Cruzado v. Zaleski, 111 Ohio St.3d 353, 2006-Ohio-5795, 856 N.E.2d 263, ¶ 18. However, trial courts do retain jurisdiction over their own final judgments in criminal cases under the following exceptions: (1) to correct a void sentence, see Cruzado, 111 Ohio St.3d 353, 2006-Ohio-5795, 856 N.E.2d 263 at ¶ 19, and Garretson, 140 Ohio App.3d at 559, 748 N.E.2d 560, citing State v. Beasley (1984), 14 Ohio St.3d 74, 75, 14 OBR 511, 471 N.E.2d 774, and (2) to correct clerical errors in judgment. Cruzado, 111 Ohio St.3d 353, 2006-Ohio-5795, 856 N.E.2d 263 at ¶ 19; Garretson, 140 Ohio App.3d at 559, 748 N.E.2d 560; Crim.R. 36.

{¶ 14} R.C. 2929.14(F)(1) provides that if a court imposes a prison term for a felony, the sentence shall include a requirement that the offender be subject to a period of postrelease control after the offender’s release from imprisonment. R.C. 2929.19(B)(3) requires that the sentencing court notify the offender that the offender will be supervised under R.C. 2967.28 after the offender leaves prison. *606 The Supreme Court of Ohio has interpreted these provisions as requiring a trial court to give notice of postrelease control both at the sentencing hearing and by incorporating it into the sentencing entry. State v. Jordan, 104 Ohio St.3d 21, 2004-Ohio-6085, 817 N.E.2d 864, paragraph one of the syllabus. The trial court must do so regardless of whether the term of postrelease control is mandatory or discretionary. Id.

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Bluebook (online)
888 N.E.2d 479, 175 Ohio App. 3d 600, 2008 Ohio 1010, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-schmitt-ohioctapp-2008.