State v. Rhodes

Summary

The Ohio Eleventh District Court of Appeals affirmed the Portage County Court of Common Pleas judgment sentencing Enrico T. Rhodes to 11 months in prison after revoking his community control for failing to report to probation. The court held that the trial court was not required to provide the full Crim.R. 11 plea colloquy before accepting Rhodes’s admission to the violation, that the prison sentence was authorized and not cruel and unusual, and that counsel was not ineffective.

Holdings

1. The trial court was not required to provide the Crim.R. 11(C)(2) guilty-plea advisements before accepting Rhodes's admission to the community-control violation. Under Crim.R. 32.3(A), the court was required to hold a hearing with Rhodes present and apprise him of the alleged violation; it satisfied those requirements.
2. The trial court acted within its statutory authority by imposing the reserved eleven-month prison sentence. Rhodes's failure to report constituted a nontechnical violation demonstrating refusal to participate in the community-control conditions, and there is a preference for, but not a presumption of, continued community control. A prison term within the statutory range did not constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
3. Rhodes did not establish ineffective assistance of counsel because the trial court was not required to provide the requested advisements, and counsel's failure to request them therefore did not prejudice him.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court violated Rhodes's due-process rights by accepting his admission to a community-control violation without advising him of the rights he was waiving.
2. Whether the trial court erred by imposing the reserved eleven-month prison sentence for Rhodes's first community-control violation and whether the sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
3. Whether trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to demand that the trial court advise Rhodes of rights allegedly waived by admitting the violation.

Disposition

affirmed