State v. Hawk, 2020 Ohio 4385

On March 26, 2020 Daniel Hawk pled guilty to one count of aggravated possession of drugs (5th-degree felony) and one count of operating a vehicle under the influence (1st-degree misdemeanor) and was sentenced to community control.
The sentencing entry (filed Mar. 31, 2020) imposed community-control terms including 34 days in the county jail and an outpatient drug/alcohol assessment with compliance to recommended treatment.
On April 17, 2020 the trial court, on its own motion, suspended the remaining jail term and added a new condition requiring Hawk to enter an inpatient program at Riverside Recovery Services; Hawk refused to enter.
At an April 22, 2020 community-control-violation hearing Hawk admitted he failed to enter inpatient treatment; defense counsel did not object to the court’s addition of the inpatient condition at the hearing.
The trial court revoked community control and imposed the previously suspended prison terms (concurrently). Hawk appealed, raising four assignments of error (authority to add conditions, notice/sufficiency, propriety of 11‑month sentence, and ineffective assistance of counsel).
The Fifth District concluded the court plainly erred in imposing a new community-control condition without statutory authority, sustained assignment one, found the remaining assignments moot, reversed and vacated the sentence, and remanded.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court could add an inpatient-treatment condition to community control after sentence execution began	State conceded the court lacked authority to add the condition	Hawk argued the court had no authority because no original condition was violated and R.C. 2929.15 limits additional sanctions	Court: Trial court plain-erred in imposing a new condition without statutory basis; assignment sustained; sentence vacated
Whether evidence showed Hawk had requisite notice of the inpatient condition	State: (implicitly) Hawk waived objections by not objecting at hearing	Hawk: He lacked notice because original order required outpatient, not inpatient, treatment	Held: Moot after resolution of issue one
Whether sentencing Hawk to 11 months on count one was authorized because alleged violation was only "technical"	State: Revocation and prison term were permissible	Hawk: Refusal to enter inpatient (if a violation) was only technical and did not justify maximum prison term	Held: Moot after resolution of issue one
Whether defense counsel was ineffective at the revocation hearing	State: Counsel’s inaction did not require reversal	Hawk: Counsel was ineffective for failing to object to the new condition	Held: Moot after resolution of issue one

State v. Long, 53 Ohio St.2d 91 (1978) (sets Ohio plain‑error standard for unraised trial errors)
State v. Hooks, 128 Ohio App.3d 750 (1998) (trial court may not modify a sentence after execution has commenced)
State v. Hayes, 86 Ohio App.3d 110 (1993) (trial court lacks power to modify an executed sentence except as authorized by statute)