State v. Spencer

Citations

• 2018 Ohio 873

Syllabus

The record does not clearly and convincingly fail to support the trial court's imposition of an eleven-year prison sentence for the appellant's involuntary-manslaughter conviction. Although the appellant pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, the record supports a finding that he beat his six-week-old child to death. The trial court was entitled to consider these circumstances when sentencing the appellant. The trial court erred, however, in imposing an additional 735-day prison sentence as a sanction for committing a felony while on post-release control from a previous case. The record reflects that post-release control was not properly imposed in connection with the appellant's prior burglary conviction. Because the part of appellant's prior burglary case imposing post-release control was void, the trial court lacked authority in the present involuntary-manslaughter case to sanction the appellant for violating post-release control. Judgment affirmed in part, reversed in part, and sentence partially vacated.