State v. Anderson, 2021 Ohio 293

Justin Anderson pled guilty in March 2015 to second-degree felony trafficking in cocaine; the plea was accepted and sentencing was stayed for 60 days while he was released pending sentencing.
At the plea hearing the court warned Anderson that if he failed to appear for sentencing it would impose an eight-year prison term instead of the three years it intended to impose if he cooperated.
Anderson failed to appear; a capias issued; he was arrested in 2018 and returned for sentencing in September 2019.
At sentencing the court reminded Anderson of the earlier warning, heard defense objections, and imposed an eight-year sentence, citing Anderson’s failure to appear, that he committed the offense while on probation for a gun charge, and the seriousness of the trafficking offense.
On appeal Anderson argued the sentence was contrary to law because the trial court failed to consider R.C. 2929.11 and 2929.12; the court of appeals reviewed under R.C. 2953.08(G)(2)(a).
The court affirmed, holding the trial court permissibly considered failure to appear and other sentencing factors, and that appellate courts may not independently reweigh R.C. 2929.11/2929.12 factors when those statutes are not among the limited grounds for modification under R.C. 2953.08(G)(2).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the eight-year sentence was contrary to law because the trial court failed to consider R.C. 2929.11 and 2929.12	State: Sentence lawful; court considered appropriate factors (failure to appear, probation status, seriousness of offense) and thus acted within sentencing discretion	Anderson: Court mechanically imposed the previously announced eight-year punishment for failure to appear and did not meaningfully consider statutory sentencing principles and factors	Affirmed: Sentence not contrary to law. Failure to appear is a proper sentencing factor; record shows other factors were considered; appellate court cannot reweigh R.C. 2929.11/2929.12 under R.C. 2953.08(G)(2)

State v. Marcum, 146 Ohio St.3d 516 (Ohio 2016) (limits appellate modification under R.C. 2953.08(G)(2) and addresses when sentence review is permitted)
State v. White, 997 N.E.2d 629 (Ohio 2013) (appellate-review standard under R.C. 2953.08(G)(2))
State v. Cherry, 159 Ohio App.3d 307 (1st Dist. 2004) (defendant’s failure to appear may be used as a sentence-enhancing factor)