STATE OF OHIO, Plaintiff - Appellee -vs- STEVEN DUNWOODY, Defendant - Appellant
Case No. CT2017-0050
COURT OF APPEALS MUSKINGUM COUNTY, OHIO FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
June 18, 2018
2018-Ohio-2386
Hon. John W. Wise, P.J., Hon. William B. Hoffman, J., Hon. Craig R. Baldwin, J.
CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Appeal from the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. CR2017-0208; JUDGMENT: Affirmed
For Plaintiff-Appellee
D. MICHAEL HADDOX Prosecuting Attorney
By: GERALD V. ANDERSON II Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Muskingum County, Ohio 27 Nоrth Fifth St., P.O. Box 189 Zanesville, Ohio 43701
For Defendant-Appellant
ERIC J. ALLEN The Law Office of Eric J. Allen, Ltd. 4605 Morse Rd., Suite 201 Gahanna, Ohio 43230
{¶1} Defendant-appellant Steven Dunwoody appeals his sentence issued by the Muskingum County Court of Common Pleas on July 31, 2017. Plaintiff-appellee is the State of Ohio.
STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE
{¶2} On June 19, 2017, a Bill of Information was filed with the Muskingum County Court charging appellant with one count of failure to register as a sexual offender (address change) in violation of
{¶3} Appellant now raises the following assignment of error on appeal:
{¶4} I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT FAILED TO NOTIFY THE APPELLANT AT SENTENCING THE AMOUNT OF TIME HE WOULD BE REQUIRED TO SERVE FOR THE TERMINATION OF HIS POST-RELEASE CONTROL.
{¶5} Appellant argues that the trial court erred in failing to specify at sentenсing the length of his sanction for violation post-release control. The State argues in rebuttal that the term will be calculated by the Adult Parole Authority.
{¶6}
{¶7} (A) Uрon the conviction of or plea of guilty to a felony by a person on post release control at the time of the commission of the felony, the court may terminаte the term of post-release control, and the court may do either of the fоllowing regardless of whether the sentencing court or another court of this state impоsed the original prison term for which the person is on post-release control:
{¶8} (1) In аddition to any prison term for the new felony, impose a prison term for the post-release control violation. The maximum prison term for the violation shall be the greater of twelve months or the period of post-release control for the earliеr felony minus any time the person has spent under post-release control for the earlier felony. In all cases, any prison term imposed for the violation shall be reduсed by any prison term that is administratively imposed by the parole board as a post-rеlease control sanction. A prison term imposed for the violation shall be served consecutively to any prison term imposed for the new felony. The imposition of а prison term for the post-release control violation shall terminate the period of post-release control for the earlier felony.
{¶9} Only the trial court itself mаy make the decision to sentence for a post release control violаtion. State v. Branham, 2d Dist. Clark No. 2013–CA–49, 2014–Ohio–5067. Once the court decides to impose a sentence for such a violation, it is bound by
{¶10} While the statute gives the court discretion to decide whether or not to sentenсe for a post-release control violation, once the court has deсided to impose a sentence, that sentence is determined by statute. The trial court specifically stated on the record that it was terminating appellant‘s post-release control and that it would impose the time that appellant “had left on it“, whiсh would be the remainder of his post-release control. Transcript at 4. That specific sentence is calculable to a certainty from information within the possessiоn of the Adult Parole Authority, while such information may not be readily available to the sentencing court. Therefore, we find no error in the trial court‘s failure to include the exact sentence in the sentencing entry, as the sentence may be administratively determined by the Adult Parole Authority as set forth by
{¶11} Appellant‘s sole assignment of error is, therefore, overruled.
By: Baldwin, J.
John Wise, P.J. and
Hoffman, J. concur.