State v. Cole, Unpublished Decision (9-25-2001)
State v. Cole, Unpublished Decision (9-25-2001)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
This is an appeal from the judgment and sentence of the Crawford County Common Pleas Court sentencing Defendant-appellant Leonard Cole (Cole) to eight years in prison for Burglary.On September 11, 2000, Cole was indicted on one count of Burglary in violation of R.C.
On February 20, 2001, Cole was sentenced to eight years of incarceration and up to three years of post release control. In imposing the sentence, the trial court considered the record, which included a pre-sentence investigation report (PSI).
At the hearing, the trial court mentioned several statements that Cole made to the probation department that could not be verified, that he used an alias when apprehended on the current charge and that Cole's record in Oklahoma includes concealing stolen property, strong arm burglary, making false declarations to a pawn broker and two prior burglary convictions. The trial court also mentioned that Cole had committed a battery while in prison and that Oklahoma has an active warrant out for Cole for failing to appear at a jury trial. The trial court then went on to evaluate these factors and found that the public needed protection from Cole, that "giving him a break" would demean the seriousness of the offense, that he had a history of criminal convictions, that Cole had not responded favorably to incarceration and finally, that the impact on and loss to the victim was great.
In its judgment entry, the trial court noted that in sentencing Cole, it had balanced the seriousness and recidivism factors under R.C.
Accordingly, the trial court sentenced Cole to the maximum sentence, eight years. Cole appeals the plea and sentence, raising three assignments of error.
The first assignment of error asserts:
The trial court erred in including post-release incarceration and sanctions in Defendant's sentence, where defendant was not advised of the same by the court.
During a plea hearing, the court cannot accept a plea of guilty without first addressing the defendant personally and determining that the plea is made voluntarily with an understanding of the maximum penalty involved. Crim R. 11(C)(2)(a). Furthermore, prior to accepting a guilty plea which will result in imprisonment,
the court shall inform the defendant personally, [that] all of thefollowing apply:
(A) The parole board may extend the stated prison term if the defendant commits any criminal offense under the law of this state or the United States while serving the prison term.
(B)Any such extension will be done administratively as part of the defendant's sentence in accordance with section
2967.11 of the Revised Code and may be for thirty, sixty or ninety days for each violation.(C) All such extensions of the stated prison term for all violations during the course of the term may not exceed one-half of the term's duration.
(D) The sentence imposed for the felony automatically includes any such extension of the stated prison term by the parole board.
(E) If the offender violates the conditions of a post-release control sanction imposed by the parole board upon the completion of the stated prison term, the parole board may impose upon the offender a residential sanction that includes a new prison term up to nine months.
R.C.
When considering whether the trial court has adhered to these requirements, the reviewing court must consider whether the trial court has substantially complied with these provisions. State v. King (Aug. 23, 2000), Auglaize App. No. 2-2000-11, unreported. "Substantial compliance" means that "under the totality of the circumstances the defendant subjectively understands the implication of his plea and the rights he is waiving." Id. (quoting State v. Nero (1990),
In this case, Cole signed a written plea agreement that set forth all of the provisions listed in R.C.
Court: * * * Mr. Cole, is this your understanding?
Defendant: Yes, Sir.
Court: * * * Do you have any questions concerning these?
Defendant: No, sir.
Court: None at all?
Defendant: (the Defendant shook his head negatively)
Court: Okay. And are you ready to enter your guilty plea?
Defendant Yes, sir.
* * *
Court: This is purely voluntary on your behalf?
Defendant: Yes, sir.
While the trial court did not specifically mention post-release control provisions at the hearing, the written plea agreement contained the appropriate recitation required by R.C.
As both of the Appellant's second and third assignment of error involve similar issues, they will be discussed together. They assert:
The trial court erred by sentencing the defendant to the maximum sentence of incarceration, based upon unverified information.
The trial court erred in determining that the defendant had committed the worst form of the offense and thereby improperly sentencing the defendant.
In reviewing a felony sentence, an appellate court is to review the propriety of the trial court's sentencing decisions and substitute its judgment only upon finding clear and convincing evidence one of the four errors described in R.C.
The general purpose of sentencing is to punish the offender and to protect the public from future offenses. R.C.
R.C.
However, the court may only sentence the offender to the longest term if it finds that the defendant is a person who "committed the worst forms of the offense [or] * * * who pose[s] the greatest likelihood of committing future crimes." R.C.
In this case, Cole pled guilty to a felony of the second degree and therefore could be sentenced to a maximum of eight years. Appellant argues that the Court should not rely on the fact that certain statements made by Cole were not verifiable. While the court may not use evidence that is materially false when sentencing, this is not the circumstance in this case. Arnett,
Here, the court merely noted that there were a number of assertions Cole made to the police and probation department that could not be verified and that taken as a whole, these statements tended to diminish his credibility with that court. However, as the information relied on by the trial court in the sentencing hearing was listed in the PSI report and the trial court may evaluate and rely on the sentencing factors in the PSI report using its own personal discretion, this was a valid use by the sentencing court of this information.
Appellant further argues that the evidence the court relied on in sentencing was not adequate to establish the "worst form of the offense." We agree. At the sentencing hearing, the trial court gave the following reasons for the sentence he imposed:
Court: Now the Court has to consider sentencing factors in this state. * * * I have to look out for the protection of the public. * * * I [and] look at your prior record and that shows me that basically, * * * giving you a break would demean the seriousness of not only this offense, but of a person with a prior record like you who has jumped bail, et cetera.
You know, burglary, that offends more people than most other crimes other than sexual and the crimes of physical violence. They feel that they've been totally violated. They're generally paranoid. They're very scared the rest of their life because a person's home is their castle, and you invaded their castle.
Another sentencing consideration I have to consider is your history of criminal convictions. You have multiple convictions in Oklahoma.
And also, I have to look at whether or not you have responded favorably in the past to sanctions imposed on prior convictions. And, again, we received from Oklahoma that you have multiple infractions while you were in prison there.
This is a very serious crime. The victims suffered psychological and economic harm. There's $3,800 loss reported, but that $3,800 could never repay them for those mementos that they did lose, such as * * *, class rings, baby rings, birth certificates, insurance papers, car titles.
The court noted that there was economic and psychological harm to the victims resulting from the theft of irreplaceable family mementos, which supports the "seriousness of the conduct" but this does not adequately establish how this constitutes a "a worst form of the offense" of burglary.
On the other hand, the court noted that Cole had a history of criminal convictions and had not responded favorably to past sanctions by detailing Cole's extensive criminal record in Oklahoma, all of which tends to indicate a strong "likelihood of recidivism." Consequently, even if the record does not adequately support a finding of the "worst form of the offense," we conclude that the trial court substantially satisfied its obligation under R.C.
For all of the foregoing reasons, the sentence of the trial court is affirmed.
BRYANT, J., concurs.
HADLEY, J., concurs in judgment only.
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