State v. Talty, Unpublished Decision (6-18-2003)

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 18, 2003
DocketC.A. No. 02CA0087-M.
StatusUnpublished

This text of State v. Talty, Unpublished Decision (6-18-2003) (State v. Talty, Unpublished Decision (6-18-2003)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law.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State v. Talty, Unpublished Decision (6-18-2003), (Ohio Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

This cause was heard upon the record in the trial court. Each error assigned has been reviewed and the following disposition is made: {¶ 1} Defendant-Appellant Sean E. Talty has appealed from a decision of the Medina County Court of Common Pleas that sentenced him to non-residential community control sanctions for a period of five years, subject to several conditions. This Court affirms.

I.
{¶ 2} On February 27, 2002, Appellant was indicted on two counts of non-support of dependents, in violation of R.C. 2919.21(A)(2) and/or R.C. 2929.21(B), a fourth degree felony, for unlawfully and recklessly failing to provide adequate support for three of his seven minor children, to wit: Heather, Shyann, and Courtney.1 Appellant initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but he later changed his plea to no contest. The court accepted Appellant's plea and found Appellant guilty of all counts as charged in the indictment.

{¶ 3} Prior to sentencing, the trial court ordered that each party submit briefs to determine "whether or not the Court can lawfully order that, as a condition of [Appellant's] supervision by the Adult Probation Department, [Appellant] may not impregnate a woman while under supervision." In compliance with the trial court's order, the parties filed briefs presenting their arguments; the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation filed a motion to intervene, which was granted, and it subsequently filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the position that the trial court did not have the authority to impose such a condition.

{¶ 4} During the sentencing hearing, the trial court found that community control sanctions2 were consistent with the purposes of R.C. 2929.11, and sentenced Appellant to community control for five years under non-residential sanctions in the form of the general supervision and control of the Adult Probation Department. The trial court also imposed several conditions on Appellant's non-residential community control sanctions. The trial court ordered Appellant to 1) make regular child support payments, in the amount of $75 per week for each case he maintained with the Medina County Child Support Enforcement Agency; 2) make all reasonable efforts to remain employed on a full-time basis; 3) obtain his GED within five years; and 4) make all reasonable efforts to avoid conceiving another child while under the supervision of the Medina County Adult Probation Department. As to the condition that Appellant make all reasonable efforts to avoid conceiving another child, the trial court noted: "What those efforts are are up to him, that is not for me to say, I am not mandating what he does, only that he has to make reasonable efforts to do so."

{¶ 5} Appellant has timely appealed, asserting one assignment of error.

II.
Assignment of Error
"THE TRIAL COURT INFRINGED [APPELLANT'S] DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL PROTECTION RIGHTS UNDER THE FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE I, SECTIONS ONE, TWO AND SIXTEEN OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION AND [APPELLANT'S] RIGHT TO PRIVACY UNDER THE NINTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE I, SECTION TWENTY OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION WHEN IT IMPOSED A PROBATION CONDITION ON [APPELLANT] TO TAKE REASONABLE STEPS TO AVOID CONCEIVING ANOTHER CHILD WHILE HE IS ON PROBATION. SINCE THIS PROBATION CONDITION INFRINGED ON [APPELLANT'S] FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS, THE COURT SHOULD HAVE FIRST DETERMINED THE REASONABLENESS OF THE CONDITION UNDER A RATIONAL BASIS TEST AND THEN APPLIED STRICT SCRUTINY ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE IF THE CONDITION WAS OVERBROAD. UNDER STRICT SCRUTINY ANALYSIS, THIS CONDITION VIOLATES [APPELLANT'S] CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS TO PRIVACY, DUE PROCESS, AND EQUAL PROTECTION."

{¶ 6} In Appellant's sole assignment of error, he has argued that the trial court violated his fundamental rights when it imposed certain conditions on his sentence of five years non-residential community control sanctions. Specifically, Appellant has contended that the trial court violated his right to procreate when it ordered him to take reasonable steps to avoid conceiving a child while under the supervision of the Medina County Adult Probation Department. We disagree.

{¶ 7} Appellant has framed the issue before this Court as: "whether it is constitutional for a trial court to impose a [condition of community control] that a probationer take reasonable steps to avoid conceiving another child while on probation." As an initial matter, we note that a party may not raise constitutional questions in a reviewing court unless it first raises them in the trial court. State v. Awan (1986), 22 Ohio St.3d 120, 122; see, also, State v. Williams (1977),51 Ohio St.2d 112, paragraph one of the syllabus, vacated in part (1978), 438 U.S. 911, 98 S.Ct. 3137, 57 L.Ed.2d 1156. Moreover, "[c]onstitutional questions will not be decided until the necessity for a decision arises on the record before the court." Hal ArtzLincoln-Mercury, Inc. v. Ford Motor Co. (1986), 28 Ohio St.3d 20, paragraph two of the syllabus. We find that not only did Appellant preserve this constitutional issue for appeal by objecting to the conditions of his community control sanctions at the sentencing hearing, but that a "necessity for a decision [has arisen] on the record before the court."3

{¶ 8} In reviewing this constitutional issue, this Court must give deference to the trial court's factual findings. State v. Kish, 9th Dist. No. 02CA008146, 2003-Ohio-2426, at ¶ 55, citing State v.Ziepfel (1995), 107 Ohio App.3d 646, 652. However, constitutional analyses are questions of law, and this Court therefore applies a de novo standard of review which affords no deference to the trial court's conclusions. Id.

The standard of review
{¶ 9} We initially note that the trial court has broad discretion in determining the conditions of probation. R.C. 2951.02; State v. Jones (1990), 49 Ohio St.3d 51, 52; Lakewood v. Hartman (1999),86 Ohio St.3d 275, 277. While the trial court has broad discretion to impose certain probation conditions, that discretion is not unlimited when a fundamental right is involved:

"In exercising a recognized broad discretion in setting additional conditions of probation, the trial court is not free to impose arbitrary conditions that significantly burden the defendant in the exercise of [his] liberty and bearing only a remote relationship to the crime for which [he] was convicted and to the objectives sought by probation of education and rehabilitation." State v. Livingston (1976),

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Bluebook (online)
State v. Talty, Unpublished Decision (6-18-2003), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-talty-unpublished-decision-6-18-2003-ohioctapp-2003.