Case Title: State ex rel. Recker v. Leonard

Citation: 2000-Ohio-303

Docket Number: 19991571

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2000-03-15T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as State ex rel. Recker v. Leonard, 88 Ohio St.3d 223, 2000-Ohio-303.] 
 
 
 
 
 
THE STATE EX REL. RECKER, APPELLANT, v. LEONARD, WARDEN, APPELLEE. 
[Cite as State ex rel. Recker v. Leonard (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 223.] 
Habeas corpus to compel relator’s release from prison on parole — Dismissal of 
petition affirmed. 
(No. 99-1571 — Submitted February 9, 2000 — Decided March 15, 2000.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Allen County, No. 1-99-58. 
 
In December 1990, the Putnam County Court of Common Pleas convicted 
appellant, Ronald J. Recker, of felonious sexual penetration and gross sexual 
imposition and sentenced him to an aggregate term of six to twenty-five years in 
prison.  In 1994 and 1997, Recker was denied parole.  In 1999, Recker filed a 
petition in the court of appeals for a writ of habeas corpus to compel appellees, 
Warden Michael A. Leonard and Ohio Adult Parole Authority Chairperson 
Margarette T. Ghee, to release him on parole.  Recker claimed that he had a right 
to parole based on the provisions of Am.Sub.S.B. No. 2.  The court of appeals 
dismissed the petition. 
 
This cause is now before the court upon an appeal as of right. 
__________________ 
 
Ronald Recker, pro se. 
 
 
2
 
Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, Stuart W. Harris and Laurence R. 
Snyder, Assistant Attorneys General, for appellee. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam.  For the following reasons, the court of appeals properly 
dismissed Recker’s habeas corpus petition. 
 
Am.Sub.S.B. No. 2, 146 Ohio Laws, Part IV, 7136, does not apply to 
persons, like Recker, who were convicted and sentenced before July 1, 1996.  State 
ex rel. Smith v. Sage (1998), 83 Ohio St.3d 209, 209-210, 699 N.E.2d 87, 88. 
 
Moreover, Recker has no constitutional or inherent right to be conditionally 
released before the expiration of his sentence.  State ex rel. Hogan v. Ghee (1999), 
85 Ohio St.3d 150, 151, 707 N.E.2d 494, 495. 
 
Finally, the court of appeals did not err in assessing costs against Recker.  
Contrary to Recker’s contentions on appeal, he should not have prevailed in his 
habeas corpus action. 
 
Based on the foregoing, we affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, COOK and 
LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur.