June 17, 2009
Appeals Court Judges to Attend Summer Meeting
Felony resentencing guidelines issued by the Supreme Court of Ohio in 2006 will be the closing topic on Friday at the annual summer meeting of Ohio’s appeals court judges.
Led by David Diroll, director of the Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission, the “Sentencing Post-Foster” session concerns State v. Foster. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the portions of Ohio’s criminal sentencing statute requiring judges to make factual findings to support non-minimum and consecutive sentences were unconstitutional.
To cure the constitutional defect, the court deleted from Ohio’s sentencing statutes all requirements of judicial fact-finding to support non-minimum or consecutive sentences, and remanded to the trial court for resentencing under post-Foster guidelines all pending criminal cases on the date Foster was decided. In setting those guidelines, the remaining language gave judges discretion to resentence an offender to any term of imprisonment within the prescribed statutory range for that offender’s crime, and also allowed judges unrestricted discretion to decide whether multiple sentences imposed on a defendant for separate crimes would be served concurrently or consecutively.
Diroll will discuss the U.S. Supreme Court decisions that provided the blueprint for Foster and the continued evolution of relevant federal constitutional law since Foster. In particular, Diroll will assay how the federal standards are changing, particularly in regard to findings by courts prior to imposing consecutive prison sentences. He also will touch on the impact of Foster on the state prison population.
The Ohio Courts of Appeals Judges Association two-day educational program also features sessions on final appealable orders, original actions, termination of parental rights appeals, and hot topics in domestic relations appeals.
Contact: Chris Davey or Bret Crow, 614.387.9250.