State v. Harper, Unpublished Decision (4-5-2000)
State v. Harper, Unpublished Decision (4-5-2000)
Opinion of the Court
On August 18, 1998, Defendant appealed the trial court's sentence and this Court reversed and remanded because the trial court failed to state a basis for its application of consecutive sentences. State v. Harper (Feb. 24, 1999), Summit App. No. 18916, unreported, at 3-4. On April 19, 1999, at the re-sentencing hearing, the trial court re-imposed the original sentence of five consecutive three-year terms. Defendant has timely appealed his re-sentencing to this Court, asserting one assignment of error.
Defendant has asserted that the trial court failed to state the necessary findings required under R.C.
2929.14 (E) when re-sentencing him to a consecutive sentence. This Court agrees.
Recently, the Ohio Supreme Court held that a trial court must engage in an analysis that notes the Court's reasons for imposing more than the minimum authorized sentence. State v. Edmonson
(1999),
[T]he consecutive service is necessary to protect the public from future crime or to punish the offender and that consecutive sentences are not disproportionate to the seriousness of the offender's conduct and to the danger the offender poses to the public, and if the court also finds any of the following:
(a) The offender committed the multiple offenses while the offender was awaiting trial or sentencing, was under a sanction imposed pursuant to section
2929.16 ,2929.17 , or2929.18 of the Revised Code, or was under post-release control for a prior offense.(b) The harm caused by the multiple offenses was so great or unusual that no single prison term for any of the offenses committed as part of a single course of conduct adequately reflects the seriousness of the offender's conduct.
(c) The offender's history of criminal conduct demonstrates that consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime by the offender.
R.C.
2929.14 (E)(4). Previously, a trial court was not obligated to recite the "talismanic" language of the sentencing statute. See State v. Blondheim (May 27, 1998), Summit App. No. 18594, unreported, at 8-9. As long as the basis for the required findings was supported in the record, the sentence imposed by the trial court was upheld. State v. Miller (Apr. 29, 1998), Summit App. No. 18645, unreported, at 4. However, under Edmonson, a sentencing court must make the required findings for deviations under R.C.2929.14 . See Edmonson,86 Ohio St.3d at 328-329 . In addition, when a trial court sentences under R.C.2929.14 (E)(4), it must also provide the necessary findings and explanation required in R.C.2929.19 (B)(2)(c) for imposing consecutive sentences. Therefore, a sentencing judge shall recite on the record the statutory reasons for selecting consecutive sentences and engage in an analysis to support the requisite findings. See Edmonson,86 Ohio St.3d at 328-329 .
In the case at bar, the transcript of Defendant's re-sentencing hearing revealed that consecutive sentences were imposed to protect the public from future crimes.1 Although the trial court made reference to the fact that Defendant committed five separate offenses, the court failed to note on the record any enumerated reasons for imposing more than the minimum sentence authorized. Specifically, the trial court did not engage in the necessary analysis of whether the consecutive sentences were "disproportionate to the seriousness of the offender's conduct[.]" R.C.
Judgment Reversed, and cause remanded.
The Court finds that there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
We order that a special mandate issue out of this Court, directing the Court of Common Pleas, County of Summit, to carry this judgment into execution. A certified copy of this journal entry shall constitute the mandate, pursuant to App.R. 27.
Immediately upon the filing hereof, this document shall constitute the journal entry of judgment, and it shall be file stamped by the Clerk of the Court of Appeals at which time the period for review shall begin to run. App.R. 22(E).
Costs taxed to Appellee.
Exceptions.
______________ BAIRD, P.J.
BETH WHITMORE FOR THE COURT
BATCHELDER, J. CONCUR
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.