State v. Watt

888 N.E.2d 489, 175 Ohio App. 3d 613, 2008 Ohio 1009
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 10, 2008
DocketNos. 10-07-14 and 10-07-15.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 888 N.E.2d 489 (State v. Watt) 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. Watt, 888 N.E.2d 489, 175 Ohio App. 3d 613, 2008 Ohio 1009 (Ohio Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

Rogers, Judge.

{¶ 1} In cases 10-07-14 and 10-07-15, defendant-appellant, Andrew T. Watt Jr., appeals the judgments of the Mercer County Court of Common Pleas resentencing him to notify him of postrelease control. In this consolidated appeal, Watt asserts that the trial court could not impose postrelease control at a *617 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 2002, in case 10-07-14, 1 the Mercer County Grand Jury indicted Watt for two counts of rape in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(1)(b), felonies of the first degree, and one count of gross sexual imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(4), a felony of the third degree. In case 10-07-15, 2 the Mercer County Grand Jury indicted Watt for one count of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor in violation of R.C. 2907.04(A), a felony of the third degree. Watt entered pleas of not guilty to both indictments.

{¶ 3} In June 2002, in case 10-07-14, the state amended the first rape count to gross sexual imposition, and Watt withdrew his plea of not guilty and entered a negotiated plea of no contest to two counts of gross sexual imposition in exchange for a dismissal of the second rape count. In case 10-07-15, Watt withdrew his plea of not guilty and entered a negotiated plea of no contest to the count as charged in the indictment. The trial court accepted Watt’s no-contest pleas and convicted him.

{¶ 4} In August 2002, in case 10-07-14, the trial court sentenced Watt to a three-year prison term on each conviction, to be served consecutively for an aggregate of six years, and classified him as a habitual sex offender. The trial court also ordered that Watt’s sentence be served consecutively to and prior to his sentence in case 10-07-15. In case 10-07-15, the trial court sentenced Watt to a three-year prison term, classified him as a habitual sex offender, and ordered that the sentence be served consecutively to his sentence in case 10-07-14. The trial court failed to include any information about postrelease control in either judgment entry of sentencing.

{¶ 5} In June 2007, in both cases, the state moved for a correction to the judgments of conviction concerning postrelease control pursuant to R.C. 2929.191. Additionally, Watt moved to withdraw his no-contest pleas. Subsequently, the trial court held a resentencing hearing, denied Watt’s motion to withdraw his no-contest pleas, and advised him that he was required to serve a period of five years of postrelease control in each case.

*618 {¶ 6} In July 2007, the trial court issued judgment entries in each case, correcting the judgments of conviction concerning postrelease control.

{¶ 7} It is from these judgments that Watt 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.

Assignment of Error No. IV

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.

{¶ 8} Due to the nature of Watt’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

{¶ 9} In his first assignment of error, Watt 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, Watt 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, Watt argues that the trial court’s imposition of postrelease control at a later date violated finality-of- *619 sentencing and double-jeopardy principles and that resentencing him post-Foster violated his due-process rights. We disagree.

{¶ 10} 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, 167 Ohio App.3d 223, 2006-Ohio-3073, 854 N.E.2d 571, ¶ 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, 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, at ¶ 19; Garretson, 140 Ohio App.3d at 559, 748 N.E.2d 560; Crim.R. 36.

{¶ 11} 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.

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Bluebook (online)
888 N.E.2d 489, 175 Ohio App. 3d 613, 2008 Ohio 1009, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-watt-ohioctapp-2008.