State v. Benjamin, 2011 Ohio 5699

Benjamin was indicted November 26, 2007, in Scioto County for possession of and trafficking in crack cocaine and MDMA; trafficking counts were dismissed and he was tried on possession counts, resulting in two third-degree felonies.
This court previously affirmed Benjamin’s two possession convictions in 2009 (State v. Benjamin, Scioto App. No. 08CA3249, 2009-Ohio-4774).
On May 14, 2010, Benjamin filed a Motion to Vacate Void Sentence under R.C. 2953.08(A)(4); on June 23, 2010 the trial court denied the motion.
Benjamin contends his sentence is void because the trial court failed to impose a statutorily mandated driver’s license suspension under R.C. 2925.11(E)(2).
The appellate court agrees the license suspension was not imposed, vacates the void portion of the sentence, and remands for a resentencing hearing limited to imposing the license suspension.
The remanded resentencing is intended to correct only the statutorily mandated driver’s license suspension; other sentence terms remain unaffected.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether failure to impose a mandatory license suspension voids the sentence	Benjamin argues the sentence is void for omitting the required license suspension	State concedes error and seeks limited resentencing	Yes; sentence void; remanded for limited resentencing to impose license suspension

Beasley v. Ohio, 14 Ohio St.3d 74 (1984) (statutory requirements render a sentence void if not imposed)
State v. Harris, 2010-Ohio-5374 (Ohio App.) (failure to impose mandated driver’s license suspension; remand for resentencing)
State v. Donahue, 2007-Ohio-6825 (Ohio App.) (Beasley applicable to missing mandatory license suspension; void sentence remanded)
State v. Fields, 2009-Ohio-4187 (Ohio App.) (remanded for resentencing when a statutorily mandated fine is omitted)
State v. Fischer, 128 Ohio St.3d 92 (2010) (when mandated postrelease control not imposed, resentencing limited to proper imposition)