Woods v. Telb

• Decision Date: 03 August 2000
• Docket Number: No. 99-1419.,99-1419.
• Citation: 89 Ohio St.3d 504,733 NE 2d 1103
• Parties: WOODS, APPELLEE, v. TELB, SHERIFF, ET AL., APPELLANTS.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

89 Ohio St.3d 504

733 NE 2d 1103

WOODS, APPELLEE, v. TELB, SHERIFF, ET AL., APPELLANTS.

No. 99-1419.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted April 12, 2000.

Decided August 3, 2000.

Jon D. Richardson, for appellee.

Julia R. Bates, Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, John J. Weglian, Brenda J. Majdalani and Eric A. Baum, Assistant Prosecuting Attorneys, for appellant Lucas County Sheriff James A. Telb.

Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, David M. Gormley, Associate Solicitor, and M. Scott Criss, Assistant Attorney General, for appellants Parole Officer Eddie Hopkins and Ohio Adult Parole Authority.

Submitted April 12, 2000 at the Geauga County Session.

LUNDBERG STRATTON, J.

Today we examine the validity of R.C. 2967.28, Ohio's post-release control statute. The court of appeals held that the statute was unconstitutional in that it violated the separation of powers doctrine and the Due Process Clauses of the United States and Ohio Constitutions. For the following reasons, we reverse the judgment of the court of appeals.

I HISTORY & OVERVIEW

In 1990, the General Assembly enacted legislation authorizing the creation of the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission and instructed it to develop and recommend to the General Assembly a comprehensive criminal sentencing structure. R.C. 181.21; 181.23. This sentencing policy was to be designed "to enhance public safety by achieving certainty in sentencing, deterrence, and a reasonable use of correctional facilities, programs, and services, and shall be designed to achieve fairness in sentencing." R.C. 181.23(B).

Further, the enabling legislation provided that "[t]he sentencing structure shall be designed to enhance public safety, to assist in the management of prison overcrowding and correctional resources, to simplify the sentencing structure of the state that is in existence on August 22, 1990, and to result in a new sentencing structure that is readily understandable by the citizens of the state, to simplify the criminal code of the state, to assure proportionality, uniformity, and other fairness in criminal sentencing, and to provide increased certainty in criminal sentencing." R.C. 181.24(A).

As part of the Sentencing Commission's recommendations, the first comprehensive revision of Ohio's Criminal Code since 1974, Am.Sub.S.B. No. 2 ("SB 2"), and its companion bill, Am.Sub.S.B. No. 269 ("SB 269"), took effect on July 1, 1996, thoroughly altering the definitions of criminal offenses, as well as changing the landscape of Ohio's sentencing system. Under the above-mentioned order of providing more certainty in criminal sentencing, one of the overriding goals of SB 2 was "truth in sentencing," meaning that the sentence imposed by the judge is the sentence that is served, unless altered by the judge. This was primarily accomplished by two methods: eliminating indefinite sentences and eliminating parole.

Pre-SB 2, an offender rarely served the time actually sentenced for three main reasons. First, indefinite sentences were prescribed for most serious felonies. Second, upon entering a state correctional institution, an offender's sentence was "automatically" reduced by thirty percent for good behavior. Former R.C. 2967.19, 145 Ohio Laws, Part IV, 6437. Finally, the Ohio Parole Board ("APA" herein) reviewed all prison sentences for disparity among offenders and attempted to abate inequities. Former R.C. 2967.03, 145 Ohio Laws, Part IV, 6428.

Now, under SB 2's "truth in sentencing," offenders are sentenced to definite sentences. Good time has been significantly reduced, and must be earned.¹ R.C. 2967.193(A). Finally, the Parole Board no longer has the authority to determine how long an offender stays in prison. Instead of parole, however, the legislature enacted a concept known as post-release control, another hallmark of the new sentencing structure and the subject of this case.

Pre-SB 2 offenders who were convicted of first- or second-degree felonies and third- and fourth-degree felonies that involved an act of violence, or who had a conviction for a prior crime of violence, were subject to post-release supervision, called parole. Now, under SB 2, a period of post-release control is required for all offenders who are imprisoned for first- or second-degree felonies, felony sex offenses, or a third-degree felony, not a felony sex offense, in which the offender caused or threatened to cause physical harm to a person. R.C. 2967.28(B). Further, post-release control is authorized for those imprisoned for other felonies at the discretion of the Parole Board. R.C. 2967.28(C).

Post-release control is a "period of supervision by the adult parole authority after a prisoner's release from imprisonment that includes one or more post-release control sanctions imposed under section 2967.28 of the Revised Code." R.C. 2967.01(N). The Parole Board has significant discretion to impose conditions of release designed to protect the public and to promote the releasee's successful reintegration into the community. Ohio Adm.Code 5120:1-1-17(A). Post-release control is mandatory for first-degree felonies, second-degree felonies, felony sex offenses, and third-degree felonies that are not felony sex offenses and in the commission of which the offender caused or threatened to cause physical harm to a person. R.C. 2967.28(B). Post-release control for those convicted of first-degree felonies and felony sex offenses shall be a period of five years. R.C. 2967.28(B)(1). Post-release control for those convicted of second-degree felonies that are not felony sex offenses and third-degree felonies that are not felony sex offenses and in the commission of which the offender caused harm to a person shall be a period of three years. R.C. 2967.28(B)(2) and (3).²

R.C. 2967.28(D) sets forth the factors that the APA considers in determining whether to impose a period of post-release control for those within its discretionary control and, if so, what conditions will be made for the post-release control. In making the decision whether to impose a period of post-release control, the APA considers such things as the offender's criminal history, all juvenile court adjudications finding the offender, while a juvenile, to be a delinquent child, and the record of the offender's conduct while imprisoned. R.C. 2967.28(D). After considering those materials, the board shall determine whether a post-release control sanction is necessary and, if so, which post-release control sanction or combination of post-release control sanctions is reasonable under the circumstances. R.C. 2967.28(D).

Post-release control does have some significant restrictions. For example, the post-release control statute provides that "[w]hen appropriate, the board may impose as a post-release control sanction a residential sanction that includes a prison term. * * * The period of a prison term that is imposed as a post-release control sanction under this division shall not exceed nine months, and the maximum cumulative prison term for all violations under this section shall not exceed one-half of the stated prison term originally imposed upon the offender as part of this sentence. The period of a prison term that is imposed as a post-release control sanction under this division shall not count as, or be credited toward, the remaining period of post-release control." (Emphasis added.) R.C. 2967.28(F)(3).

II THE CASE OF MILTON WOODS

Milton Woods, the petitioner herein, convicted of committing theft, a fifth-degree felony, was sentenced to serve ten months in prison. The trial court informed petitioner at sentencing that the APA may place him on post-release control for three years, since petitioner's offense permitted discretionary post-release control. At the end of petitioner's sentence, the APA determined that petitioner merited post-release supervision for a period of three years.

During that post-release control period, petitioner violated the terms of his post-release control on several occasions and the APA sanctioned him by various methods. After he failed to attend a substance abuse program, failed to report to his post-release control officer, and failed to report for his weekly urine screenings in June of 1997, he was sanctioned to a day-reporting program and ordered to report to an APA chemical dependency specialist. After an arrest for a drug charge in July of 1997, petitioner received a violation hearing and then was sanctioned to a halfway house, where he was to become involved in a substance abuse program. He was discharged from the halfway house in December, and in January 1998, he failed to report to his post-release control officer and failed to report for his weekly urine screen. In March 1998, he was arrested for possession of drug paraphernalia, giving officers false information about his identity, and a post-release control violation. After a hearing, he was sentenced to one hundred fifty-one days in prison, which was one-half of the original term of his commitment.

After petitioner served his prison sanction, on August 28, 1998, petitioner was released again from prison under continued post-release control and on October 5, 1998, he was arrested again for loitering and obstruction. November 4, 1998, petitioner was released and sanctioned to attend substance-abuse counseling. On November 12, 1998, petitioner tested positive for cocaine. On January 16, 1999, petitioner was arrested for drug abuse and was sanctioned to serve one hundred eighty days in a community-based correctional facility. March 25, 1999, the last violation hearing was held and petitioner was sanctioned to serve thirty days in the Lucas County Jail.

Petitioner filed for a writ of habeas corpus in the Court of Appeals for Lucas County. At the hearing on the petition, the sole witness was John Kinkela, the Chief of the Adult Parole Authority, who testified about the specifics of petitioner's case, his opinion as to how post-release control was...