State v. Simmons, 2017 Ohio 647

Michael Simmons was convicted by jury of corrupting a minor, drug trafficking (in the vicinity of a school), tampering with evidence, and possession arising from conduct on August 11, 2005.
He received an aggregate 15-year sentence at initial sentencing (2006), and the same aggregate sentence after multiple resentencings (2007, 2010) and challenges concerning postrelease control.
At the relevant sentencing dates, R.C. 2925.03(D)/(G) mandated that a conviction for R.C. 2925.03(A) required the court to suspend the offender’s driver’s license for 6 months to 5 years; the trial court never imposed such a suspension.
Simmons filed a motion to correct an illegal sentence (May 9, 2016) arguing, under State v. Harris, that the failure to include the mandatory license suspension rendered that part of his sentence void and required resentencing limited to imposing the suspension.
The trial court denied the motion; the Seventh District reversed, holding the sentence was void in part and remanding for resentencing limited to the license-suspension issue.
The opinion instructs the trial court on remand to apply the 2016 amendment to R.C. 2925.03, which removed the across-the-board mandatory suspension and made suspension discretionary in most cases; thus resentencing is limited to deciding whether to impose a discretionary suspension under the current statute.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court's failure to impose a statutorily required driver’s license suspension on a drug-trafficking conviction renders that portion of the sentence void and requires resentencing.	The State maintained the trial court properly denied Simmons’ motion (i.e., no relief).	Simmons argued, relying on State v. Harris, that the omission rendered that part of his sentence void and required resentencing limited to imposing the mandatory suspension.	Court reversed the trial court, held the omission rendered that portion void, and remanded for resentencing limited to the license-suspension issue; but directed the court to apply the 2016 amendment (making suspension discretionary) on remand.

State v. Harris, 132 Ohio St.3d 318, 972 N.E.2d 509 (Ohio 2012) (failure to include a mandatory driver's-license suspension as part of a sentence renders that portion of the sentence void; resentencing limited to imposing the suspension)
State v. Fischer, 128 Ohio St.3d 92, 942 N.E.2d 332 (Ohio 2010) (a court acts contrary to law if it fails to impose a statutorily required sentencing term; res judicata does not bar review of a void sentence)
State v. Foster, 109 Ohio St.3d 1, 845 N.E.2d 470 (Ohio 2006) (sentencing-law principles relied on in prior resentencing proceedings)