State v. Gillespie, 2012 Ohio 3485

Gillespie was indicted February 23, 2011 for Passing Bad Checks, a fifth-degree felony under R.C. 2913.11(B).
He pled guilty on October 5, 2011 to that charge.
On January 9, 2012, Gillespie was sentenced to two years of Community Control with a six-month local-incarceration term reserved for violations.
In September 2012, after plea and before sentencing, R.C. 2913.02 was amended to raise the theft threshold and to convert certain offenses to misdemeanors.
Gillespie argued the amended statute should apply retroactively to reduce his penalty from a felony to a misdemeanor under R.C. 1.58 and the Ex Post Facto Clause.
The court sustained Gillespie’s assignment of error, reversed, and remanded for proceedings consistent with its opinion.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the amended theft statute applies retroactively to Gillespie's sentence.	Gillespie: amendment applicable; entitled to misdemeanor sanctions.	State: amendment raises threshold only; does not reclassify offense.	Yes, retroactive application; penalty reduced to misdemeanor under 1.58(B).

State v. Cook, 83 Ohio St.3d 404 (1988) (statutory retroactivity framework; presumption against retroactivity)
Kiser v. Coleman, 28 Ohio St.3d 259 (1986) (retroactivity threshold under 1.48)
Van Fossen v. Babcock & Wilcox Co., 36 Ohio St.3d 100 (1988) (retroactivity and application of amended statutes to pre-act conduct)
Dorsey v. United States, 567 U.S.__, 132 S. Ct. 2321 (2012) (federal retroactivity considerations; leniency applied post-enactment to pre-enactment conduct in some contexts)
State v. Collier, 22 Ohio App.3d 25 (1984) (application of amended penalties under 1.58 to pre-sentencing reductions)
State v. Coffman, 16 Ohio App.3d 200 (1984) (similarly applied amended penalties to pre-sentencing offenses)
State v. Burton, 11 Ohio App.3d 261 (1983) (pre-sentencing application of reduced penalties)