State v. Whited

2019 Ohio 18
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided January 7, 2019·No. CA2018-04-079·Published·Cited by 6 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

TWELFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO BUTLER COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO, :

Appellee, : CASE NO. CA2018-04-079

: OPINION

- vs - 1/7/2019 :

CHARLES A. WHITED, :

Appellant. :

CRIMINAL APPEAL FROM BUTLER COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS Case No. CR2014-02-0243

Michael T. Gmoser, Butler County Prosecuting Attorney, John C. Heinkel, Government Services Center, 315 High Street, 11th Floor, Hamilton, Ohio 45011, for appellee

Krista M. Gieske, 810 Sycamore Street, 3rd Floor, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202, for appellant

HENDRICKSON, P.J.

{¶ 1} Appellant, Charles A. Whited, appeals from the revocation of his community control, arguing the Butler County Court of Common Pleas erred by only awarding him 28 days of jail-time credit. For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the trial court's judgment to the extent it failed to properly award jail-time credit and remand the matter for the recalculation of said credit.

{¶ 2} On February 19, 2014, appellant was indicted on three counts of trafficking in

drugs in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1) and one count of deception to obtain a dangerous drug in violation of R.C. 2925.22. He was arrested on February 24, 2014 and was released on bond on February 27, 2014. Appellant pled guilty to two counts of trafficking in drugs, felonies of the fourth degree and, on June 4, 2014, was sentenced to five years of community control. At sentencing, appellant was advised that a violation of his community control could result in a 36-month prison term, consisting of 18-month prison terms on each count, served consecutively.

{¶ 3} In February 2015, appellant's probation officer filed a notice that appellant violated his community control by failing to report to his supervising officer. Appellant had not seen his probation officer since October 22, 2014. Upon the filing of this notice, the trial court issued a warrant for appellant's arrest. Appellant was apprehended January 7, 2016.1 Thereafter, the court found appellant violated his community control. On February 10, 2016, the trial court continued appellant's community control with the additional requirement that appellant successfully complete the Community Correctional Center ("CCC") program and recommended aftercare.

{¶ 4} In January 2017, appellant's probation officer filed a second notice that appellant had violated the terms of his community control. The notice alleged appellant had failed to appear for a scheduled appointment with probation and his whereabouts had been unknown until he was arrested on the violation on December 19, 2016.2 The notice further alleged appellant failed a drug screen by testing positive for marijuana and appellant had been unsuccessfully discharged from a treatment program at Community Behavioral Health. The court ultimately found appellant had violated his community control. On January 11,

1. It is unclear from the record how long appellant remained jailed after being apprehended on January 7, 2016.

2. It is unclear from the record how long appellant remained jailed after being arrested for his second community control violation.

2017, the court continued appellant's community control but ordered appellant to serve 30 days in jail, with credit for seven days.

{¶ 5} On March 20, 2018, a third notice that appellant had violated the terms of his community control was filed. The notice alleged appellant failed to report to probation as ordered, admitted he would test positive for marijuana, failed to comply with a payment agreement, was unsuccessfully discharged from treatment at Community Behavioral Health, and had failed to re-engage in treatment as recommended. The court found appellant violated his community control, and on April 11, 2018, the court revoked appellant's community control. The court ordered appellant to serve 180 days in prison on each underlying trafficking in drugs conviction and ordered that the prison terms be served consecutively for an aggregate of 360 days. The trial court gave appellant 28 days of jail- time credit for the time he spent in jail from his March 15, 2018 arrest on the third community control violation until he was sentenced on April 11, 2018. The court expressly denied appellant's request to receive jail-time credit for time appellant spent at CCC after his first community control violation, stating that the 360-day sentence imposed was "a sanction under House Rule 49[.] * * * It's not really a prison sentence; it’s a sanction even though he is going to prison. So I don't think that he gets credit towards that 360-day sentence."

{¶ 6} Appellant timely appealed his sentence, raising the following as his sole assignment of error:

{¶ 7} THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT FAILED TO PROPERLY CALCULATE THE CORRECT NUMBER OF DAYS OF JAIL-TIME CREDIT TO WHICH [APPELLANT] WAS ENTITLED AND IN FAILING TO INCORPORATE SAID DAYS INTO ITS SENTENCING ENTRY.

{¶ 8} In his sole assignment of error, appellant argues the trial court erred by failing to award him jail-time credit for all the time he spent in confinement as required by R.C.

2967.191. Appellant contends that (1) time he spent incarcerated when he was first indicted in February 2014, (2) time he spent incarcerated for a "pretrial services violation" in June 2014, (3) time he spent incarcerated after being arrested for his first, second, and third community control violations, (4) time he spent in jail as a sentence for said violations, and (5) time he spent at CCC after committing his first and second violations should all be awarded as jail-time credit against his 360-day prison term.3 Appellant contends that, at a minimum, he is entitled to an additional 98 days of jail-time credit for the time he spent in confinement.

{¶ 9} The state, however, disputes that appellant is entitled to additional jail-time credit, contending that the trial court "retains inherent authority as to the awarding [sic] of jail time credit, specifically in regard to community control sanctions" in accordance with R.C. 2929.15(B)(3). The state further contends that the issue of jail-time credit is moot, as appellant was released from prison on June 20, 2018.

{¶ 10} We begin our analysis by addressing the state's argument that the issue of jail-

time credit is moot. The Ohio Supreme Court has determined that once an offender has completed his prison sentence, any alleged error relating to the calculation of jail-time credit becomes moot as there is no longer an existing case or controversy. State ex rel. Compton v. Sutula, 132 Ohio St.3d 35, 2012-Ohio-1653, ¶ 5, citing State ex rel. Gordon v. Murphy, 112

3. {¶ a} Appellant contends he was incarcerated for a "pretrial services violation" sometime in June 2014, and he spent 19 days in jail for this violation. The record indicates that on June 20, 2014 and June 24, 2014, respectively, appellant filed a Motion for Early Release and a Motion in Mitigation of Sentence for Early Release, in which he indicated he had been sanctioned 60 days for testing positive for marijuana prior to being sentenced to community control on his convictions for trafficking in drugs. The record indicates appellant's motion for early release was granted on June 26, 2014. However, the record fails to set forth when appellant was initially jailed for the "pretrial services violation."

{¶ b} The record also fails to demonstrate how long appellant spent at CCC. The record merely indicates that after appellant violated his community control the first time, he obtained some treatment from Community Behavioral Health before being discharged unsuccessfully on December 5, 2016. He again obtained some treatment at Community Behavioral Health after violating his community control a second time, but was once again unsuccessfully discharged on December 18, 2017.

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