2009 Ohio 899 | Ohio Ct. App. | 2009
{¶ 2} The trial court sentenced Defendant to consecutive prison terms of five years on the aggravated burglary, ten years to life on each of the rape counts and on the kidnaping, and three years on the failure to comply with an order or signal of a police officer, for an aggregate sentence of thirty-eight years to life. The court also classified Defendant as a Tier III sex offender.
{¶ 3} Defendant timely appealed to this court from his conviction and sentence. He challenges only his sentence.
ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR
{¶ 4} "THE TRIAL COURT ABUSED ITS DISCRETION IN ORDERING MR. ROLLINS TO SERVE HIS SENTENCES CONSECUTIVELY RATHER THAN CONCURRENTLY AND THE SENTENCES WERE NOT SUPPORTED BY THE *3 RECORD."
{¶ 5} The record demonstrates that Defendant and the victim met at work and had dated for about two months when the victim broke off the relationship. Defendant thereafter stalked and threatened her. Having sent a message to his cell phone that purported to be from the victim asking him to come to her house, Defendant appeared at the victim's house at 4:25 a.m. on June 29, 2007. When she stepped from her house to go to work, Defendant brandished a knife and forced her back inside. Defendant raped the victim, holding a knife at her throat and threatening to kill her, then beat her unconscious. The episode lasted about four hours. Afterward, while fleeing from the police, Defendant drove through two counties, at times reaching speeds of 100 mph. At the time, Defendant was on post release control for committing a similar crime against a former girlfriend.
{¶ 6} Defendant does not challenge the individual sentences the court imposed, the longest of which is ten years to life. Rather, he challenges the order that he serve those sentences consecutively, for an aggregate term of thirty-eight years to life. Defendant points out that he suffers from multiple mental health problems and has expressed remorse for his offenses. Defendant also contends that his aggregate *4 sentence is disproportionate to punishments imposed on others for like offenses.
{¶ 7} The trial court has full discretion to impose any sentence within the authorized statutory range, and the court is not required to make any findings or give its reasons for imposing maximum consecutive, or more than minimum sentences. State v. Foster,
{¶ 8} When reviewing felony sentences, an appellate court must first determine whether the sentencing court complied with all applicable rules and statutes in imposing the sentence, including R.C.
{¶ 9} The trial court indicated that on more than one occasion it had reviewed and considered the entire case file, the sentencing memorandum filed by each party, and the presentence investigation report. The court also stated that it had considered and would apply the purposes and principles of felony sentencing, including the overriding purpose of protecting the public. R.C.
{¶ 10} The State's sentencing memorandum extensively discusses the R.C.
{¶ 11} The crux of Defendant's argument is not that the court failed to consider the applicable statutory sentencing factors, but rather that in doing so the court abused its discretion because it failed to give appropriate weight to the mitigating factors of Defendant's mental health and his remorse, and imposed a sentence disproportionate to his offense.
{¶ 12} In adopting the State's sentencing memorandum, the trial court gave weight to the fact that when he committed these offenses Defendant was on post-release control for a similar violent sex crime against another victim, that multiple factors demonstrate that Defendant's conduct is more serious than conduct normally constituting the offense, including the fact that the victim suffered serious psychological harm that was detailed at the sentencing hearing, R.C.
{¶ 13} Multiple factors support a finding that Defendant is likely to commit future crimes, including the fact that at the time he committed these offenses Defendant was under post release control for a prior offense, R.C.2929.12(D)(1). *7
Defendant also has a history of criminal convictions, R.C.
{¶ 14} R.C.
{¶ 15} Defendant compares his sentences totaling thirty-eight years to life with the sentences totaling twenty-three years and two months imposed in State v. Hammond, Delaware *8
App. NO. 05CAA0085,
{¶ 16} In any event, the Hammond comparison is insufficient for the finding Defendant asks us to make. We have held that "the issue (of the alleged inconsistency) must . . . be raised in the trial court and some evidence, however minimal, must be presented to the trial court to provide a starting point for analysis and to preserve the issue (of inconsistency) for appeal." State v. Rigsbee,
{¶ 17} Defendant's assignment of error is overruled. The judgment of the trial court will be affirmed.
BROGAN, J. And FAIN, J., concur.
Copies mailed to:
Joyce Anderson, Esq.
Brent E. Rambo, Esq.
*1Hon. Roger B. Wilson