State v. Sayles, Unpublished Decision (12-15-2004)
State v. Sayles, Unpublished Decision (12-15-2004)
Opinion of the Court
Petitioner-appellant Tony B. Sayles presents on appeal a single assignment of error, in which he contends that the common pleas court erred in dismissing his petition for postconviction relief. We find no merit to this contention.
In January of 1991, a Hamilton County jury found Sayles guilty on two counts of aggravated burglary. The trial court sentenced him to concurrent terms of imprisonment of six-to-twenty-five years, suspended the prison terms, and placed Sayles on five years' probation. In December of 1991, the court declared Sayles to be an absconder from its jurisdiction, declared that his probation period would be tolled until he was again brought before the court,1 and ordered that an arrest warrant be issued.
The arrest warrant resurfaced almost nine years later, when in September of 2000 Sayles was arrested for an unrelated offense. On February 13, 2001, the trial court revoked Sayles's probation and ordered him to serve the suspended six-to-twenty-five-year prison terms.
Sayles did not appeal the revocation of his probation. Instead, on May 5, 2004, over three years after his probation had been revoked, he filed with the common pleas court a "Motion to Vacate Sentence." In his motion, Sayles sought relief from the judgment revoking his probation on the ground that the trial court had lost jurisdiction when the five-year probation period had expired. The common pleas court construed the motion as a petition for postconviction relief pursuant to R.C.
Sayles failed in his "Motion to Vacate Sentence" to designate the statute or rule under which he sought relief. We conclude that the common pleas court properly construed the motion as an R.C.
Sayles also failed to file his petition within the time prescribed under R.C.
Accordingly, we overrule the sole assignment of error and affirm the judgment of the common pleas court.
Further, a certified copy of this Judgment Entry shall constitute the mandate, which shall be sent to the trial court under App. R. 27. Costs shall be taxed under App. R. 24.
Doan, P.J., Gorman and Sundermann, JJ.
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