State v. Barnes

Summary

The Ninth District Court of Appeals of Ohio held that the trial court failed to provide the notifications required by Ohio Revised Code 2929.19(B)(2)(c) during the sentencing hearing for a non-life felony indefinite prison term. The court reversed and remanded solely for the trial court to provide those notifications, without disturbing the conviction or other aspects of the sentence.

Holdings

1. The trial court's advisement that Barnes's incarceration could be extended if he failed to follow prison rules was insufficient because it did not convey the statute's required information concerning the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction's specified determinations regarding conduct, rehabilitation, threat to society, restrictive housing, and security classification.
2. The notifications required by R.C. 2929.19(B)(2)(c) must be provided to the defendant at the sentencing hearing itself; a later sentencing entry containing the notifications does not cure the failure to provide them during the hearing.
3. When the required notifications are not provided at the sentencing hearing, the appropriate remedy is to reverse and remand solely for the trial court to provide the notifications; the conviction and other aspects of the sentence remain unaffected, and the defendant is not entitled to be sentenced anew.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court's sentencing-hearing advisement that Barnes could receive a longer prison term for failing to follow prison rules satisfied the notifications required by Ohio Revised Code section 2929.19(B)(2)(c).
2. Whether the statutory notifications had to be provided at the sentencing hearing itself rather than first appearing in a later sentencing entry.
3. What remedy is appropriate when the required notifications are not provided at the sentencing hearing.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded