State v. Harper

Citations

• 2017 Ohio 8963
• 101 N.E.3d 628

Syllabus

SENTENCING: The trial court erred in imposing a two-year prison term for an attempted-tampering-with-evidence offense punishable as a fourth-degree felony, and that sentence was clearly and convincingly contrary to law, when the maximum prison term authorized for that offense was 18 months, and the prison term imposed was outside the permissible statutory range. R.C. 2921.331(B) proscribes operating a motor vehicle so as to willfully elude or flee a police officer after receiving a visible or audible signal from a police officer to bring the motor vehicle to a stop. Under R.C. 2921.331(C)(5)(a)(ii) and 2921.331(D), if an offender has caused substantial risk of physical harm to person or property while committing the offense and is sentenced to a prison term for that violation, the offender shall serve the prison term consecutively to any other prison term or mandatory prison term imposed upon the offender R.C. 2929.14(C)(3) also requires that if a prison term is imposed for a felony violation R.C. 2921.331(B), the offender shall serve that prison term consecutively to any other prison term or mandatory prison term previously or subsequently imposed on the offender. The trial court was not required to make the consecutive-sentencing findings mandated by R.C. 2929.14(C)(4) for defendant's violations of R.C. 2921.331(B), because the consecutive-sentencing provisions of R.C. 2929.14(C)(4) are inapposite when the trial court is required to impose consecutive sentences by operation of law under R.C. 2921.331(B) and 2921.331(D).