[Cite as State v. Jenkins, 2022-Ohio-705.]

COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO 

EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT 

COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

STATE OF OHIO, : 

 Plaintiff-Appellee, : 

 No. 109701 

 v. : 

 

JAMES L. JENKINS, : 

 

 Defendant-Appellant. : 

 

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION 

 JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED

RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: March 10, 2022 

 

Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas 

Case No. CR-19-643967-A 

 

Appearances: 

Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting 

Attorney, and James Gallagher, Assistant Prosecuting 

Attorney, for appellee. 

Cullen Sweeney, Cuyahoga County Public Defender, and 

Aaron T. Baker, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant. 

SEAN C. GALLAGHER, A.J.: 

James Jenkins appeals his conviction, claiming it to be void based on 

the constitutional invalidity of the Reagan Tokes Law. For the following reasons, we 

affirm Jenkin’s conviction for the qualifying felony drug trafficking offense. 
On February 24, 2020, Jenkins pled guilty to two counts of drug 

possession in violation of R.C. 2925.11(A). One count was a qualifying seconddegree felony under R.C. 2929.144 and 2929.14(A)(2)(a), and the other count was a 

nonqualifying fifth-degree felony. On March 26, 2020, the trial court sentenced 

Jenkins on the second-degree felony drug trafficking offense to an indefinite term 

of two to three years in prison under the Reagan Tokes Law. 

In this appeal, Jenkins advances three arguments in support of 

vacating the sentence imposed upon the second-degree felony drug trafficking 

offense, citing the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and 

Article I, Section 16, of the Ohio Constitution, (1) that the Reagan Tokes Law violates 

his right to trial by jury or the separation-of-powers doctrine, and (2) that R.C. 

2967.271, which provides offenders with the right to a hearing before imposition of 

the maximum term imposed under R.C. 2929.144, has no statutorily imposed 

structure or enumerated rights therein in violation of Jenkins’s due process rights. 

Jenkins does not otherwise challenge his fifth-degree drug trafficking conviction. 

These arguments were thoroughly addressed and overruled in State v. Delvallie, 8th 

Dist. Cuyahoga No. 109315, 2022-Ohio-470. 

As a result, we need not dwell on the arguments presented. Based on 

the authority established by this district’s en banc holding in Delvallie, the 

challenges Jenkins advanced against the constitutional validity of the Reagan Tokes 

Law have been overruled. See id. at ¶ 17-51. Jenkins presents no new arguments in 

support of his claims. As a result, Jenkins’s arguments challenging the 
constitutional validity of his conviction for the second-degree felony drug trafficking 

offense with a sentence imposed under the Reagan Tokes Law is overruled. 

We affirm. 

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. The defendant’s 

conviction having been affirmed, any bail pending appeal is terminated. Case 

remanded to the trial court for execution of sentence. 

A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule 27 

of the Rules of Appellate Procedure. 

____________________________________ 

SEAN C. GALLAGHER, ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE 

MICHELLE J. SHEEHAN, J., and 

LISA B. FORBES, J., CONCUR 

N.B. Judge Lisa B. Forbes is constrained to apply Delvallie. For a full explanation, 

see State v. Delvallie, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 109315, 2022-Ohio-470 (Forbes, J., 

dissenting).