State v. Pina, Unpublished Decision (9-4-2007)
State v. Pina, Unpublished Decision (9-4-2007)
Opinion of the Court
{¶ 2} On October 20, 2003, Pina entered negotiated guilty pleas to one count of aggravated assault in case number 2002-CR-164, and in case number 2002-CR-69, one count of sexual battery, one count of aggravated burglary, and one count of kidnapping. The trial court on November 10, 2004, sentenced Pina to a total sentence of seventeen years and two months in prison. Pina appealed from this judgment. On June 27, 2005, this court affirmed the convictions and prison term, but remanded the matter because the trial court failed to properly impose post release control. Pina was resentenced on September 7, 2006, and was again sentenced to an aggregate prison term of seventeen years and two months in *Page 3 prison. Pina appeals from this judgment and raises the following assignments of error.
The trial court erred by imposing post release control.
The trial court erred by imposing non-minimum, consecutive prison sentences.
{¶ 3} The first assignment of error claims that the trial court erred by imposing post release control. Pina claims that the imposition of post release control violates the separation of powers doctrine. The basis for this argument is that the statute now permits anyone sentenced on or after July 11, 2006, to be subject to post release control regardless of whether the trial court notifies the offender of the possibility or not. R.C.
{¶ 4} In his second assignment of error, Pina claims that the trial court erred by imposing non-minimum, consecutive sentences.
*Page 5[T]he Supreme court has recently held in State v. Foster,
109 Ohio St. 3d 1 ,2006-Ohio-856 ,845 N.E.2d 470 , at syllabus # 7, that "[t]rial courts have full discretion to impose a prison sentence within the statutory range and are no longer required to make findings or give their reasons for imposing maximum, consecutive, or more than the minimum sentences." In addition, the Supreme Court stated "[o]ur remedy does not rewrite the statutes, but leaves courts with full discretion to impose prison terms within the basic ranges of R.C.2929.14 (A) based upon a jury verdict or admission of the defendant without the mandated judicial findings of fact that Blakely prohibits." Id. at ¶ 102. "Courts shall consider these portions of the sentencing code that are unaffected by today's decision and impose any sentence within the appropriate felony range. If an offender is sentenced to multiple prison terms, the court is not barred from requiring those terms to be served consecutively." Id. at ¶ 105.{¶ 36} In addition, Foster altered the appellate court's standard of review for sentencing appeals from "clear and convincing" to "abuse of discretion." Id. at ¶ 100, 102. Accordingly, we must review this sentence under the abuse of discretion standard. In order to find an abuse of discretion, we must find that the trial court acted unreasonably, arbitrarily, or unconscionably. Blakemore v. Blakemore (1983),
5 Ohio St.3d 217 ,219 ,450 N.E.2d 1140 . When applying the abuse of discretion standard, a reviewing court may not simply substitute its judgment for that of the trial court.
State v. Park, 3rd Dist. No. 3-06-14,
{¶ 5} Additionally, Pina argues that the trial court's use of the Supreme Court's remedy required by Foster violates the Ex Post Facto and Due Process clauses of the U.S. Constitution. This court has previously addressed this very *Page 6
issue in State v. McGhee, 3rd Dist. No. 17-06-05,
{¶ 6} The judgments of the Court of Common Pleas of Hancock County are affirmed.
Judgments affirmed.
*Page 1ROGERS, P.J., and SHAW, J., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.