State v. Williams

540 N.E.2d 300, 43 Ohio App. 3d 184, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 40
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 25, 1988
Docket53199
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 540 N.E.2d 300 (State v. Williams) 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. Williams, 540 N.E.2d 300, 43 Ohio App. 3d 184, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 40 (Ohio Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

John V. Corrigan, J.

Appellant, Michael L. Williams, pleaded guilty to a violation of R.C. 2925.03 (drug law) and was sentenced to six months to five years. The judge ordered one year of probation in lieu of the jail time. The end of his probation period was extended from November 1980 to November 1981 for failure to report to his probation officer. In 1986, appellant was convicted of two other crimes in case No. 202238. At the time for sentencing the trial judge announced that he had been informed that appellant was in violation of his probation and that a probation revocation hearing would be held. He stated that there was probable cause to believe a violation had occurred and that a full hearing would be conducted. After the hearing a failure to report was found and appellant’s probation was revoked. The original sentence was reinstated and ordered to be served consecutive to the sentence for the subsequent offenses. Appellant’s motion for leave to file a delayed appeal was granted.

Assignment of Error No. I

“The trial court erred and abused its discretion by revoking Michael Williams’ probation when the court lacked jurisdiction over Michael Williams.”

Appellant was placed on probation which was scheduled to end in November 1980. There is no dispute over the extension of the probationary period to November 1981. His probation officer testified that appellant failed to report after May 1981. Although appellant’s explanation was not plausible and he did violate his probation, the court was without jurisdiction to revoke his probation and reinstate the sentence.

“* * * [A] judge * * * may terminate the probation and impose any sentence which might originally have been imposed or continue the probation and remand the defendant to the custody of the probation authority, at any time during the probationary period. * * * At the end or termination of the period of probation, the jurisdiction of the judge or magistrate to impose sentence ceases, and the defendant shall thereupon be discharged. * * *” (Emphasis added.) R.C. 2951.09.

The court could have had jurisdiction only if the probation period were tolled.

“* * * If the probationer absconds or otherwise absents himself from the jurisdiction of the court without permission from the county department of probation or the court to do so, * * * the probation period ceases to run until such time as he is brought before the court for its further action.” (Emphasis added.) R.C. 2951.07.

The state cites State v. Fry (Apr. *186 23, 1981), Cuyahoga App. No. 42975, unreported, in which the probationary period was tolled. However, this court specifically stated that the defendant had not been in the jurisdiction for four years. Here, there is no evidence that appellant ever left the jurisdiction and there was a showing that he was on general relief from the county during the period.

Unless the appellant’s probationary period was tolled, the court lost jurisdiction in November 1981. This court has held that the issuance of a journalized capias was tantamount to a journal entry declaring defendant an absconder. State v. Moses (Nov. 29, 1984), Cuyahoga App. No. 47835, unreported, at 1, 3 (capias issued, Journal Entry, July 14, 1983).

Moses cited State v. Wallace (1982), 7 Ohio App. 3d 262, 7 OBR 342, 454 N.E. 2d 1356, which held that the period was tolled by the filing of a complaint claiming violation of parole and the issuing of a warrant before the period ended which “was tantamount to an entry declaring the * * * [defendant] an absconder.” Id. at 263, 7 OBR at 343, 454 N.E. 2d at 1358.

First, Wallace and Moses were wrongly decided. R.C. 2951.07 states that the period is tolled if “the probationer absconds or otherwise absents himself from the jurisdiction of the court * * (Emphasis added.)

The inclusion of the word “otherwise” means that the probationer must abscond from the jurisdiction. Merely to abscond is not enough. A statute is needed that would prevent the loss of jurisdiction when the period expires before the probationer is located and there is no proof the probationer left the jurisdiction for the period the prosecutor claims should be tolled. However, this statute does not do so. In this case, the prosecutor made no effort to allege or show that appellant ever left Cuyahoga County. Moses and Wallace found that once a capias is issued the period is tolled. There is no authority for that conclusion other than the policy that jurisdiction should be retained. If a public policy exception can be grafted onto the statutes then it should require that jurisdiction be retained only if appellant hid himself and eluded the capias within the county and the capias was journalized before the probation period ended.

Here, notices were allegedly sent to appellant, according to the prosecutor’s brief, but no dates or other information is provided. The trial court record does not show any such notices. There is no proof appellant deliberately avoided the capias. There was no_ testimony concerning the effort to find" him. The capias was ordered by a trial judge the month before the period was to end and then never delivered to the sheriff’s department or journalized until four years later. Even under Moses and Wallace the prosecutor failed to initiate the process of finding appellant by journalizing a capias before the period ran out. A capias that is ordered and noted on a docket but not jour-nalized is not an order of the court. There was no effort made to find the appellant until four years later.

The period was not tolled and the trial court did not have jurisdiction to revoke his probation and sentence him to jail.

Assignment of Error No. I is sustained. The decision of the trial court is reversed and vacated.

Assignment of Error No. II

“The trial court erred, abused its discretion and violated appellant’s due process and confrontation rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and the Ohio Constitution by failing to conform to the mandates of Ohio Rule of Criminal Procedure 32.3 and Gagnon v. Scarpelli (1973), 411 U.S. 778.”

*187 The prosecutor’s brief claimed, without proof, that notices of an alleged violation were sent to appellant but he had moved. Appellant was given no prior notice of his violation (and the possibility of revocation) until he was being sentenced in an unrelated matter. Appellant contended that he was not given the written notice, the preliminary hearing and separate final hearing and the disclosure of evidence required by Gagnon v. Scarpelli (1973), 411 U.S. 778.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
540 N.E.2d 300, 43 Ohio App. 3d 184, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 40, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-williams-ohioctapp-1988.