Court Opinion

ID: 9392126
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-05-04 14:07:41.275325+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:18:17.654838
License: Public Domain

[Cite as State v. Jones, 2023-Ohio-1482.]

                               COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

                              EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
                                 COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

STATE OF OHIO,                                    :

                 Plaintiff-Appellee,              :
                                                             No. 111991
                 v.                               :

SEAN M. JONES,                                    :

                 Defendant-Appellant.             :

                                JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

                 JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED
                 RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: May 4, 2023

          Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas
                             Case No. CR-21-664039-A

                                            Appearances:

                 Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting
                 Attorney, and Michael Timms, Assistant Prosecuting
                 Attorney, for appellee.

                 Cullen Sweeney, Cuyahoga County Public Defender, and
                 Aaron T. Baker, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

SEAN C. GALLAGHER, J.:

                   Appellant Sean M. Jones appeals the trial court’s imposition of an

indefinite sentence pursuant to S.B. 201, commonly referred to as the Reagan Tokes
Law. He brings this appeal challenging the constitutionality of the Reagan Tokes

Law.

              Jones was charged under a seven-count indictment. He entered a

guilty plea to Count 1, as amended, burglary, a felony of the second degree, in

violation of R.C. 2911.12(A)(1); Count 2, vandalism, a felony of the fifth degree, in

violation of R.C. 2909.05(A); and Counts 3 and 4, aggravated menacing,

misdemeanors of the first degree, in violation of R.C. 2903.21(A). The remaining

counts were nolled.

              At sentencing, the trial court imposed a suspended sentence and

placed Jones on four years of community control on each count. Over objection, the

trial court sentenced Jones on Count 1 in accordance with the Reagan Tokes Law to

a five-year stated minimum term of imprisonment with a maximum term of seven

and a half years. The trial court also sentenced Jones on Count 2 to a concurrent

prison term of one year, and on Counts 3 and 4 to time served.

              Under his sole assignment of error, Jones contends that the trial court

erred when it found the Reagan Tokes Law to be constitutional and sentenced him

to an indefinite sentence pursuant to S.B. 201. He claims that the Reagan Tokes Law

violates constitutional guarantees of the right to a trial by jury, the separation-of-

powers doctrine, and due process. He acknowledges that the same arguments

challenging the constitutionality of the Reagan Tokes Law were rejected by this

court’s en banc decision in State v. Delvallie, 2022-Ohio-470, 185 N.E.3d 536, ¶ 17-

51 (8th Dist.). Inasmuch as Jones has limited his constitutional challenge to the
issues resolved in Delvallie and seeks to preserve his challenge for further review,

we summarily overrule the assignment of error and affirm the judgment of

conviction.1

               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.              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, JUDGE

MICHELLE J. SHEEHAN, P.J., and
EMANUELLA D. GROVES, J., CONCUR

N.B. Judge Emanuella D. Groves concurred with the opinions of Judge Lisa B.
Forbes (dissenting) and Administrative Judge Anita Laster Mays (concurring in part
and dissenting in part) in Delvallie and would have found the Reagan Tokes Law
unconstitutional.

      1 We note that no other issue has been raised as to the imposed sentence; therefore,

any determination as to the validity of the sentence is beyond the scope of this direct
appeal. State v. Harper, 160 Ohio St.3d 480, 2020-Ohio-2913, 159 N.E.3d 248, ¶ 26;
State v. Henderson, 161 Ohio St.3d 285, 2020-Ohio-4784, 162 N.E.3d 776, ¶ 27.