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Court upholds kidnapping, gross sexual imposition convictions
JESSICA SHAMBAUGH
Special to the Legal News
Published: August 25, 2015
The 5th District Court of Appeals recently dismissed a man’s claim that he was wrongly sentenced to more than the minimum prison term for his gross sexual imposition and kidnapping convictions.
A grand jury indicted Gurney George Jr. on counts of rape and kidnapping, both with sexually violent predator specifications, in June 2013. He pleaded not guilty to all counts and specifications at his arraignment hearing.
Shortly thereafter, George filed a motion for a competency evaluation and insanity defense.
The evaluations determined that George was competent to stand trial and he started plea negotiations with the state.
He ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping and one count of gross sexual imposition.
The Fairfield County Court of Common Pleas accepted those pleas and ordered him to serve nine years in prison for kidnapping and 18 months for gross sexual imposition with those terms running concurrently.
One month after his sentencing, George filed notice of his appeal, asserting that the trial court imposed an unlawful sentence.
Specifically, he claimed that the lower court abused its discretion by imposing the maximum term for gross sexual imposition and a “more than minimum” term for kidnapping.
“We thus must consider the pertinent statutory provisions affecting the imposition of appellant’s maximum and/or more than minimum sentences,” Judge John Wise wrote in his opinion for the appellate court.
Upon review, the three-judge appellate panel held that judicial fact-finding is not required by a trial court every time a greater-than-minimum sentence is imposed.
It maintained that Ohio’s sentencing laws required a trial court to make certain findings before issuing consecutive sentences, but found that the laws make no such requirements for maximum sentences.
“Therefore, for purposes of the limited parameters in the present appeal, because both sentences herein are within the statutory ranges for the pertinent degrees of felony offenses, we find they are ‘authorized by law,’” Wise stated.
Further, the judges found that because the sentences were imposed as part of a joint recommendation, they lacked appellate jurisdiction over George’s assignment of error.
“For the reasons stated in the foregoing opinion, the appeal of the judgment of the Court of Common Pleas, Fairfield County, Ohio, is hereby dismissed,” Wise continued.
Presiding Judge Sheila Farmer and Judge Patricia Delaney joined Wise to form the majority on the matter.
The case is cited State v. George, 2015-Ohio-3065.
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