State v. Doss

[Cite as State v. Doss, 2022-Ohio-1507.]
COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO
EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA
STATE OF OHIO, :
Plaintiff-Appellee, :
No. 111187
v. :
SANFORD D. DOSS, :
Defendant-Appellant. :
JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION
JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED
RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: May 5, 2022
Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
Case No. CR-19-638751-A
Appearances:
Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting
Attorney, and Anthony T. Miranda, Assistant
Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Sanford D. Doss, pro se.
KATHLEEN ANN KEOUGH, J.:
This appeal is before the court on the accelerated docket pursuant to
App.R. 11.1 and Loc.App.R. 11.1. The purpose of an accelerated appeal is to allow an
appellate court to render a brief and conclusory decision. State v. Trone, 8th Dist.
Cuyahoga Nos. 108952 and 108966, 2020-Ohio-384, ¶ 1, citing State v. Priest, 8th
Dist. Cuyahoga No. 100614, 2014-Ohio-1735, ¶ 1.
In December 2020, this court affirmed Doss’s convictions for
aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated assault, and operating a vehicle while
intoxicated. State v. Doss, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 109235, 202o-Ohio-5510. This
court overruled his assignments of error challenging (1) the denial of his motion to
suppress, (2) his no contest plea, and (3) the trial court’s imposition of a mandatory
prison sentence. Doss did not raise any challenge to his sentence regarding the
application of the Reagan Tokes Law, which was in effect at the time he committed
the offenses.
In November 2021, Doss filed two motions — (1) a motion to conduct a
resentencing hearing because the trial court failed to provide him with the R.C.
2929.19(B)(2)(c) statutory notifications pursuant to the Reagan Tokes Law; and (2)
a motion to vacate his plea because the trial court (1) allegedly failed to accept his
plea, and (2) failed to advise him of the statutory notifications. The trial court
summarily denied both motions.
Doss now appeals, raising as his sole assignment of error that his
sentence is contrary to law because the trial court erred when it failed to follow its
mandatory duty to advise him of the five notification requirements under the
Reagan Tokes Law. He contends that he is entitled to a new sentencing hearing
based on this failure.
As part of the Reagan Tokes Law, R.C. 2929.19(B)(2)(c)(i)-(v) requires
a trial court to inform an offender at the sentencing hearing five notifications about
the offender’s indefinite sentence. Those notifications involve the rebuttable
presumption regarding the offender’s release from service of the sentence, how the
department of rehabilitation and correction may rebut that presumption, and the
mandatory release of an offender following the expiration of the maximum prison
term imposed.
Our review of the record reveals that the trial court did not inform Doss
of the five notifications under R.C. 2929.19(B)(2)(c) at sentencing. Nevertheless, his
argument on appeal is barred by res judicata because Doss failed to challenge this
issue in his direct appeal. The Ohio Supreme Court has made it clear that sentencing
errors, even errors involving a statutory mandate, render a sentence voidable, not
void, and must be raised on direct appeal. State v. Henderson, 161 Ohio St.3d 285,
2020-Ohio-4784, 162 N.E.3d 776; State v. Harper, 160 Ohio St.3d 480, 2020-Ohio-
2913, 159 N.E.3d 248. Accordingly, the sentencing defect that Doss now raises is
barred by res judicata. The assignment of error is overruled.
Judgment affirmed.
It is ordered that appellee recover from appellant costs herein taxed.
The court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
It is ordered that a special mandate issue out of this court directing the
common pleas court to carry this judgment into execution.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule
27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
KATHLEEN ANN KEOUGH, JUDGE
ANITA LASTER MAYS, P.J., and
CORNELIUS J. O’SULLIVAN, JR., J., CONCUR