State v. Straley
| Decision Date | 27 July 2018 |
| Docket Number | No. 17CA4,17CA4 |
| Citation | 2018 Ohio 3080,107 N.E.3d 8 |
| Parties | STATE of Ohio, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Gregory S. STRALEY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
Gregory S. Straley, Chillicothe Correctional Institution, Chillicothe, Ohio, pro se appellant.
Anneka P. Collins, Highland County Prosecuting Attorney, Hillsboro, Ohio, for appellee.
DECISION AND JUDGMENT ENTRY
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, Gregory S. Straley, appeals from the judgment of the Highland County Court of Common Pleas denying his post-sentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea. Because the trial court abused its discretion by denying the motion based on res judicata when it imposed a void sentence that improperly consisted of a non-mandatory prison term, we reverse the judgment and remand for further proceedings.
{¶ 2} In September 2008, the Highland County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Straley with 14 counts, including five counts of sexual battery, four counts of gross sexual imposition, four counts of rape, and one count of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material or performance. Straley initially pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
{¶ 3} In January 2009, Straley, who was represented by counsel, withdrew his not-guilty plea and in return for the dismissal of the remaining counts, pleaded guilty to two counts of gross sexual imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(4), third-degree felonies, three counts of sexual battery in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(5), second-degree felonies, two counts of gross sexual imposition in violation of R.C. 2907.05(A)(1), fourth-degree felonies, and one count of sexual battery in violation of R.C. 2907.03(A)(5), a third-degree felony. The written plea form included a handwritten "No" in the "Prison Term is Mandatory/Consecutive" column for each of the offenses, and an agreed prison sentence of various terms to be run consecutively for an aggregate term of 35 years and 10 months.
{¶ 4} At the plea hearing, the trial court in its Crim.R. 11 colloquy emphasized to Straley that none of the sentences were mandatory:
{¶ 5} In one of the gross sexual imposition counts he pleaded guilty to, Straley was charged with knowingly having sexual contact with K.S. beginning on or about January 1, 2005 and continuing through April 30, 2007, on Antioch Road in Highland County, with K.S. being less than 13 years old during that period. The three second-degree sexual battery counts that Straley pleaded guilty to also involved the same victim during the same period and at the same location, i.e. they occurred when the victim was less than 13 years old and included a period on or after August 3, 2006.
{¶ 6} The trial court accepted Straley's plea and convicted him of the offenses. It then proceeded to sentence him to the agreed aggregate prison term of 35 years and 10 months, which included consecutive seven-year terms for each of the second-degree felony sexual battery convictions. The trial court then issued a judgment entry reflecting the sentence. In its sentencing entry, the trial court specified that "a mandatory prison term * * * is not * * * required by [R.C.] 2929.13(F)." The trial court did not mention any sex-offender classification.
{¶ 7} On appeal, Straley, represented by counsel, raised several assignments of error, including that "THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY IMPOSING A MANDATORY SENTENCE WITHOUT ADVISING THE APPELLANT THAT THE SENTENCE WAS MANDATORY." We overruled Straley's assignments of error and affirmed the trial court's judgment. State v. Straley , 4th Dist. Highland No. 09CA4, 2009-Ohio-6170, 2009 WL 4021379 (" Straley I "). For his assignment of error concerning the trial court's purported imposition of a mandatory sentence, we held that because the sentence was agreed to by the parties, it was not reviewable under R.C. 2953.08(D)(1). Id. at ¶¶ 23-26.
{¶ 8} The trial court later issued a nunc pro tunc sentencing entry to add his sex-offender classification. In its March 2012 nunc pro tunc entry, the trial court reiterated that "a mandatory prison term * * * is not * * * required by [R.C.] 2929.13(F)." Subsequent appeals involved the trial court's sex offender classification of Straley. See State v. Straley , 4th Dist. Highland No. 12CA3, 2013-Ohio-3334, 2013 WL 3949160 (" Straley II "); State v. Straley , 4th Dist. Highland No. 13CA30, 2014-Ohio-5110, 2014 WL 6453961 (" Straley III ").
{¶ 9} In April 2017, Straley filed a Crim.R. 32.1 motion to withdraw his guilty plea. He claimed that res judicata did not apply to his motion and that his guilty plea was invalid because the trial court's sentence on his three second-degree felony sexual battery convictions was void because it imposed a non-mandatory prison sentence when a mandatory prison sentence was required. The State filed a response; and Straley submitted a reply to the response.
{¶ 10} The trial court denied the motion, finding that res judicata barred it. In the alternative, the court found that Straley had not established a manifest injustice because he did not allege that at the time of his plea, he was unaware that the sentences for his second-degree felony sexual battery charges were mandatory or that he would not have entered a guilty plea had he known of their mandatory nature; and he waited eight years to file his motion.
{¶ 11} Straley assigns the following errors for our review:
{¶ 12} Straley contests the trial court's denial of his post-sentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea. "A defendant who seeks to withdraw a plea of guilty after the imposition of sentence has the burden of establishing the existence of manifest injustice." State v. Smith , 49 Ohio St.2d 261, 361 N.E.2d 1324 (1977), paragraph one of the syllabus; State v.Ogle , 4th Dist. Hocking No. 13CA18, 2014-Ohio-2251, 2014 WL 2442247, ¶ 8. A manifest injustice is a clear and openly unjust act; it relates to a fundamental flaw in the proceedings resulting in a miscarriage of justice or a deprivation of due process. See State ex rel. Schneider v. Kreiner , 83 Ohio St.3d 203, 208, 699 N.E.2d 83 (1998) ; Ogle at ¶ 8 ; State v. Hall , 10th Dist. Franklin No. 03AP-433, 2003-Ohio-6939, 2003 WL 22976587, ¶ 12. "This is an ‘extremely high standard’ that permits a defendant to withdraw his plea ‘only in extraordinary cases.’ " State v. Walton , 4th Dist. Washington No. 13CA9, 2014-Ohio-618, 2014 WL 705418, ¶ 10, quoting State v. Darget , 4th Dist. Scioto No. 12CA3487, 2013-Ohio-603, 2013 WL 658664, ¶ 21.
{¶ 13} The decision to grant or deny a Crim.R. 32.1 postsentence motion to withdraw a guilty plea is committed to the sound discretion of the trial court; thus appellate review of the denial of the motion is limited to a determination of whether the trial court abused its discretion. Walton at ¶ 11 ; see also Smith at paragraph two of the syllabus ("A motion made pursuant to Crim.R. 32.1 is addressed to the sound discretion of the trial court, and the good faith, credibility and weight of the movant's assertions in support of the motion are matters to be resolved by that court."). "A trial court abuses its discretion when it makes a decision that is unreasonable, unconscionable, or arbitrary." State v. Darmond , 135 Ohio St.3d 343, 2013-Ohio-966, 986 N.E.2d 971, ¶ 34.
{¶ 14} In his first assignment of error, Straley asserts that the trial court abused its discretion by denying the motion to withdraw by applying res judicata to a void sentence. The State initially counters that the trial court correctly applied res judicata based on our decision in Straley I .
{¶ 15} As its primary rationale for denying Straley's post-sentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea, the trial court held that it was barred by res judicata because he raised it in his prior appeal in Straley I .
{¶ 16} Res judicata generally bars defendants from raising claims in a Crim.R. 32.1 postsentence motion to withdraw a guilty plea that they either raised or could have raised in a direct appeal from their conviction. See State v. Snyder , 2017-Ohio-8091, 96 N.E.3d 833, ¶ 29 (4th Dist.), quoting State v. Mackey , 4th Dist. Scioto No. 14CA3645, 2014-Ohio-5372, 2014 WL 6877056, ¶ 15 (); State v. Ketterer , 126 Ohio St.3d 448, 2010-Ohio-3831, 935 N.E.2d 9, ¶ 59 ().
{¶ 17} In Straley I , Straley unsuccessfully raised the issue of whether the trial court erred regarding the mandatory nature of his prison term for his three second-degree felony sexual battery convictions. The trial court and the State understandably relied upon our holding in Straley I .
{¶ 18} Nevertheless, the Supreme Court of Ohio has held that " ‘[a]ny attempt by a court to disregard statutory requirements...
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