Case Title: State ex rel. Miller v. Leonard

Citation: 2000-Ohio-267

Docket Number: 19991487

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2000-02-16T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as State ex rel. Miller v. Leonard, 88 Ohio St.3d 46, 2000-Ohio-267.] 
 
 
 
 
 
THE STATE EX REL. MILLER, APPELLANT, v. LEONARD, WARDEN, APPELLEE, ET AL. 
[Cite as State ex rel. Miller v. Leonard (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 46.] 
Habeas corpus to compel relator’s immediate release from prison – Dismissal of 
petition affirmed. 
(No. 99-1487 – Submitted January 12, 2000 – Decided February 16, 2000.) 
APPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Allen County, No. 1-99-47. 
 
In April 1993, appellant, Jerry S. Miller, was convicted of gross sexual 
imposition and attempted rape and sentenced to an aggregate prison term of eight 
to twenty-five years.  In May 1998, the Ohio Parole Board denied Miller parole 
and continued his next parole hearing until 2008.  The Parole Board based its 
decision upon its determination that Miller had raped his stepdaughter on 
numerous occasions over a period of several years and that he was “an extremely 
dangerous person to ever go back into the community [and] to be around children.” 
 
In May 1999, Miller filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus to compel 
appellees, his prison warden and the Chairperson of the Ohio Adult Parole 
Authority, to immediately release him on parole.  Miller claimed that Am.Sub.S.B. 
No. 2 created a new constitutional right to parole.  The court of appeals dismissed 
the petition. 
__________________ 
 
 
2
 
Jerry S. Miller, pro se. 
 
Betty D. Montgomery, Attorney General, and Katherine E. Pridemore, 
Assistant Attorney General, for appellee. 
__________________ 
 
Per Curiam.  We affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.  There is no 
constitutional or inherent right to be released before the expiration of a valid 
sentence.  Greenholtz v. Inmates of Nebraska Penal & Correctional Complex 
(1979), 442 U.S. 1, 7, 97 S.Ct. 2100, 2104, 60 L.Ed.2d 668, 675; State ex rel. 
Hogan v. Ghee (1999), 85 Ohio St.3d 150, 151, 707 N.E.2d 494, 495.  As the court 
of appeals held, nothing in Am.Sub.S.B. No. 2 confers a mandatory right to parole.  
Finally, the sentencing provisions of Am.Sub.S.B. No. 2 (146 Ohio Laws, Part IV, 
7136) do not apply to Miller and other persons convicted and sentenced before July 
1, 1996.  State ex rel. Smith v. Sage (1998), 83 Ohio St.3d 209, 699 N.E.2d 87, 88. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER, COOK and 
LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., concur.