State v. Baldwin

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 1653

Syllabus

R.C. 2929.14(B)(1)(e); having weapons while under disability; firearm specification; sentencing; subsection (e)(i) and (ii); postrelease control; date of offense; ineffective assistance of counsel; no error so no deficient performance; futile act not deficient. Appellant appeals the trial court's sentence alleging it committed plain error by sentencing him to a prison term for a firearm specification for violating having weapons while under disability pursuant to R.C. 2929.14(B)(1)(e), which only permits a prison sentence when subsections (e)(i) and (ii) are met. Appellant admitted that subsection (i) was satisfied as he had been convicted of aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. He argued subsection (ii) was not met because he was still on postrelease control (\PRC\) for the prior offense and therefore it had not been less than five-years since he had been released from PRC. We find appellant ignored the first part of subsection (ii) that it had been less than five years since offender was released from prison as he was released from prison for the prior offense in 2021 and committed the underlying offense in 2025, which is less than five years from his release. The language \whichever is later\ is important because appellant had not yet been released from PRC when he committed the offense such that the date did not exist so the only date that could be considered was from when he was released from prison. Therefore, the trial court had sufficient evidence for finding the requirement of subsection (ii) was met and thereby the trial court did not commit plain error in sentencing appellant to a prison term for the firearm specification. Appellant also alleged in his assignment of error that his counsel was ineffective when he failed to object to this sentence at sentencing. We find that his counsel's performance was not deficient as the sentence was legal and that appellant was not prejudiced by his counsel not objecting as this would not have changed the outcome