State v. White, C-060842 (11-30-2007)
State v. White, C-060842 (11-30-2007)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 2} White raises five assignments of error for our review, all challenging the imposition of post-release control.
{¶ 3} The Ohio Supreme Court held in State v. Bezak1 that "[w] hen a defendant is convicted of or pleads guilty to one or more offenses and postrelease control is not properly included in a sentence for a particular offense, the sentence for that offense is void. The offender is entitled to a new sentencing hearing for that particular offense." The Bezak court made it clear that it is not sufficient to "summarily reimpose the original sentence."2 Further, the Bezak court stated that "in such a resentencing hearing, the trial court may not merely inform the offender of the imposition of postrelease control and *Page 3 automatically reimpose the original sentence. Rather, the effect of vacating the trial court's original sentence is to place the parties in the same place as if there had been no sentence."3 Therefore, the trial court is required to hold a new sentencing hearing.4
{¶ 4} We held in State v. Bond5 that where Bond was sentenced in 1999 to eight years' incarceration but was not informed of post-release control, the trial court erred under Bezak6 when prior to the expiration of Bond's sentence in 2006 it attempted to impose post-release control under R.C.
{¶ 5} It is undisputed that the trial court in this case did not inform White about post-release control when it attempted to impose the original sentence in 2000. The court did not properly sentence White in 2006 because the court failed to conduct a new sentencing hearing.9 The court specifically stated at the 2006 hearing that it was merely advising White about post-release control. Therefore, the court never properly imposed post-release control upon White. According to the record, White's sentence was to expire on December 23, 2006. We are compelled to follow the Ohio Supreme Court's pronouncement inBezak and, therefore, we hold that because White's prison term has expired, he cannot now be resentenced for his crimes.10 We hold that there is no proper sentence in this case imposing post-release control. Further, we hold pursuant to State v. *Page 4 Bond11 that the imposition of post-release control in this case violated the separation-of-powers doctrine.
{¶ 6} We recognize that in State v. Bankhead12 we held that where Bankhead had not been informed about post-release control at his original sentencing hearing, R.C.
{¶ 7} The judgment of the trial court is vacated solely for the reasons set forth in this decision. The assignments of error are made moot by our disposition of this case.
{¶ 8} The judgment of the trial court imposing post-release control is hereby vacated, and the case is remanded for the trial court to order the termination of White's post-release control and for further proceedings consistent with law and this decision.
Sentence vacated in part and cause remanded.
HENDON, P.J., and CUNNINGHAM, J., concur.
RALPH WINKLER, retired, from the First Appellate District, sitting by assignment.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- State of Ohio v. Chester White
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published