State ex rel. Jackson v. Watson ( 2023 )

[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as State
ex rel. Jackson v. Watson, Slip Opinion No. 2023-Ohio-xxxx.]
NOTICE
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an
advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested to
promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65
South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other
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SLIP OPINION NO. 2023-OHIO-401THE STATE EX REL . JACKSON, APPELLANT , v. WATSON, SUPERINTENDENT, ET
AL., APPELLEES.
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it
may be cited as State ex rel. Jackson v. Watson, Slip Opinion No.
2023-Ohio-401.]
Habeas corpus—Inmate failed to comply with R.C. 2725.04(D), and he has not
served his maximum prison sentence—Court of appeals’ judgment
dismissing petition affirmed.
(No. 2022-0416—Submitted January 10, 2023—Decided February 14, 2023.)
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Marion County, No. 9-22-01.
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Per Curiam.
{¶ 1} While incarcerated at North Central Correctional Complex, appellant,
Gregory L. Jackson, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus against Warden
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
Tom Watson. Jackson appeals the court of appeals’ dismissal of his petition. We
affirm.1
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
{¶ 2} Jackson pleaded guilty to murder in the Allen County Court of
Common Pleas in October 1990 and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.
Jackson was released on parole in August 2010.
{¶ 3} Jackson reoffended after his release. In March 2012, Jackson was
convicted in the Richland County Court of Common Pleas of drug possession and
having weapons while under a disability. The trial court sentenced Jackson to an
aggregate term of eight years in prison. Jackson alleges that by operation of law,
his eight-year sentence ran concurrently with the sentence he resumed serving for
his 1990 murder conviction.
{¶ 4} Before his eight-year sentence expired, Jackson filed a motion for jail-
time credit in the Richland County trial court. Jackson asked that the period from
August 17, 2011, to his sentencing date of March 7, 2012, be credited as time served
on his sentence. The trial court denied Jackson credit for the requested period,
finding that he was entitled to only three days of jail-time credit, for August 17
through August 19, 2011. The court reasoned that from August 19, 2011, to March
7, 2012, Jackson was serving time solely on his sentence for murder, following the
revocation of his parole, and therefore that time could not be credited toward his
later sentence.
{¶ 5} Jackson’s eight-year sentence for the Richland County convictions
expired in March 2020. As to the sentence for his murder conviction, the parole
board denied Jackson release from prison.
1. During the pendency of this appeal, Jackson was transferred to the Belmont Correctional
Institution, at which David Gray is the warden. We sua sponte join Gray as an appellee in this case.
See Humphrey v. Bracy, 166 Ohio St.3d 334, 2021-Ohio-3836, 185 N.E.3d 1045, ¶ 1.
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January Term, 2023
{¶ 6} Jackson filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Third District
Court of Appeals in January 2022. He sought immediate release from prison,
arguing that his sentences have expired. Watson filed a motion for summary
judgment in the court of appeals, which Jackson opposed. The court of appeals
granted Watson’s motion and denied the writ. Jackson appealed to this court as of
right.
ANALYSIS
{¶ 7} Generally, a writ of habeas corpus is available only when the
petitioner’s maximum sentence has expired and he is being held unlawfully,
Leyman v. Bradshaw, 146 Ohio St.3d 522, 2016-Ohio-1093, 59 N.E.3d 1236, ¶ 8,
or when the sentencing court patently and unambiguously lacked subject-matter
jurisdiction, Stever v. Wainwright, 160 Ohio St.3d 139, 2020-Ohio-1452, 154
N.E.3d 55, ¶ 8. Habeas corpus is not available when the petitioner has an adequate
remedy in the ordinary course of law, unless the trial court’s judgment is void for
lack of jurisdiction. State ex rel. Davis v. Turner, 164 Ohio St.3d 395, 2021-Ohio-
1771, 172 N.E.3d 1026, ¶ 8. This court reviews de novo a court of appeals’ decision
granting summary judgment in a habeas corpus action. State ex rel. Shafer v.
Wainwright, 156 Ohio St.3d 559, 2019-Ohio-1828, 130 N.E.3d 268, ¶ 7.
{¶ 8} The court of appeals properly granted summary judgment. First,
Jackson did not comply with R.C. 2725.04(D), which requires a habeas petitioner
to attach “[a] copy of the commitment or cause of detention of such person * * * if
it can be procured without impairing the efficiency of the remedy.” A petitioner’s
failure to include complete records of his incarcerations and releases is fatal to his
habeas petition. State ex rel. Miller v. May, 161 Ohio St.3d 8, 2020-Ohio-3248,
160 N.E.3d 707, ¶ 8-9. As the court of appeals correctly noted in this case, Jackson
failed to include any document related to the revocation of his parole in connection
with the Allen County conviction. This defect alone was a valid basis to dismiss
Jackson’s petition.
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SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
{¶ 9} Even if Jackson had complied with R.C. 2725.04(D), he would not be
entitled to release. Jackson contends that he is unlawfully detained because he has
fully served his sentences for both the Allen County and Richland County
convictions. Even though the Allen County sentence has a maximum term of life
in prison, Jackson argues that the Richland County court declared that sentence to
have “expired” as of March 7, 2012, in its entry deciding Jackson’s motion for jail-
time credit. Specifically, Jackson points to this passage of the trial court’s entry:
The defendant was sentenced in this case on March 7, 2012,
which is the same date the Allen County time expired as he would
have received credit on his Allen County conviction for the period
of time from August 19, 2011, through March 7, 2012. Therefore,
this case could not have run concurrent to his Allen County case as
that sentence expired on March 7, 2012, and defendant is not
entitled to jail time credit on this case for those days as he received
credit for them on his Allen County case.
(Emphasis added.)
{¶ 10} Seizing on the court’s statement that his Allen County sentence
“expired on March 7, 2012,” Jackson argues that he has fully served his sentence.
And to the extent that the Richland County court erred in declaring that the Allen
County sentence had “expired,” Jackson argues, the state waived the error by not
appealing the entry.
{¶ 11} But Jackson is wrong about what the Richland County trial court
decided. The court did not declare that the Allen County sentence had “expired”;
rather, the court clarified which periods of jail-time credit had expired when
discussing which sentence Jackson’s confinement between August 19, 2011, and
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January Term, 2023
March 7, 2012, was properly credited to. The court stated that on March 7, 2012,
the period credited to the Allen County sentence expired, at which time Jackson
began serving time credited to the Richland County sentence. In full context, the
trial court was explaining why the time from August 19, 2011, through March 7,
2012, was credited to the Allen County sentence and not to the Richland County
sentence. Accordingly, the court of appeals correctly found that Jackson’s
maximum sentence has not expired.
{¶ 12} For the foregoing reasons, Jackson is not entitled to release. The
court of appeals properly denied him relief in habeas corpus.
Judgment affirmed.
KENNEDY, C.J., and FISCHER, DEWINE, DONNELLY, STEWART, BRUNNER,
and DETERS, JJ., concur.
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Gregory L. Jackson, pro se.
Dave Yost, Attorney General, and Stephanie Watson, Assistant Attorney
General, for appellees.
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