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11th District reverses “sentencing package” in drug case
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: October 11, 2019
A Lake County trial court erred by imposing a community control “sentencing package” in a drug-related case rather than individually on each charge.
That means the defendant’s prison sentence for his community control violation is invalid, according to the 11th District Court of Appeals.
Isiah Crenshaw was indicted on eight drug offenses. He appealed his August 2018 sentence of six years in prison for violating community control.
In March 2016, Crenshaw attempted to plead guilty to one count each of possession of heroin and tampering with evidence. Prosecutors requested two years in prison. Crenshaw told the court he was remorseful and wanted drug treatment and seemed reluctant to enter the plea after being told he could immediately be sentenced to prison, according to case summary.
The trial court refused to accept the plea, telling Crenshaw it would consider community control if the defendant pleaded guilty to all counts of the indictment, except those subject to merger, which would carry a maximum suspended prison term of 10 consecutive years.
The trial judge also told Crenshaw that if the court chose not to impose community control sanctions after a pre-sentence investigation, it would dismiss all except the two counts he agreed to plead guilty to and would be sentenced to two years in prison. The judge gave Crenshaw a week to consider the proposal.
The following week, Crenshaw pled guilty to the five counts not subject to merger: tampering with evidence; trafficking in heroin with forfeiture specifications for heroin, a scale and $1,502 in cash; aggravated trafficking in drugs with forfeiture specifications for fentanyl; aggravated trafficking in drugs with a forfeiture specification for hydrocodone and possession of dangerous drugs with a forfeiture specification for trazadone.
Crenshaw was sentenced to three years community control, 60 days in jail, a jail treatment program, successful completion of the North East Ohio Community Alternative Program and 60 days in the Transitional Day Reporting Program at his April 2016 sentencing.
In February 2018, he was arrested in Cuyahoga County on drug-related offenses and admitted to possessing drugs during his arrest. Crenshaw pled guilty to violating community control.
At sentencing, defense counsel and the prosecuting attorney agreed to a six-year prison term if the judge found Crenshaw was not able to continue on community control.
Crenshaw argued his original sentence is contrary to law based on the Ohio Supreme Court’s holding in State v. Saxon (2006-Ohio-1245) that state felony statutes do not allow for “sentencing packages.”
Writing for the court, 11th District Judge Timothy P. Cannon noted, “This court, and others, have held that not only must prison terms be imposed individually for each offense, pursuant to Saxon, terms of community control must also be imposed individually for each offense. Therefore, when a trial court imposes community control sanctions on multiple charges in a `sentencing package,’ rather than individually, the sentence is contrary to law.”
The panel reversed the lower court’s judgment and vacated Crenshaw’s conviction for violating community control sanctions. The matter was remanded for a de novo sentencing hearing relating to the five offenses to which he pled guilty.
“Here, appellant was convicted of five offenses,” Cannon added. “The trial court, however, imposed a blanket three-year term of community control on all five offenses. Therefore, the May 10, 2016 judgment of sentence is void, and the trial court could not have found appellant in violation of it. Accordingly, the Aug. 17, 2018 judgment of sentence is also void.”
The case is cited State v. Crenshaw, 2019-Ohio-3840.