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State v. Green3/20/2003
JUDGMENT AFFIRMED.
. The appellant, Jerry Green, appeals the sentence imposed by the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, Criminal Division, which imposed an aggregate sentence of thirteen years.
. Green was originally charged with aggravated murder in the juvenile court system, and the State sought to bind him over to the adult court. After the mandated bind-over hearing, it was determined that Green was not amenable to juvenile rehabilitative services, and he was bound over to the Court of Common Pleas, General Division, to face the charges as an adult.
. He was indicted on one count of aggravated murder, in violation of R.C. 2903.04, with a felony murder specification and a three-year firearm specification. Additionally, he was indicted on one count of aggravated robbery, in violation of R.C. 2911.01. Green entered a plea of not guilty, but after plea negotiations, he entered a plea of guilty to an amended indictment charging one count of involuntary manslaughter, in violation of R.C. 2903.04(A), with a three-year firearm specification.
. Thereafter, Green was sentenced to the maximum sentence of three years on the firearm specification and ten years for the involuntary manslaughter count, to be served consecutively to the firearm specification, for an aggregate sentence of 13 years of incarceration.
. Green presents one assignment of error for this court's review, which states
. "I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED WHEN IT FAILED TO IMPOSE THE MINIMUM PRISON SENTENCE AS MANDATED BY R.C. 2929.11 AND R.C. 2929.14."
. The appellant entered a plea of guilty to one count of involuntary manslaughter, a felony of the first degree, which carries a possible prison term of three to ten years of incarceration. R.C. 2929.14(A)(1). Further, pursuant to R.C. 2929.13(D), a prison term is presumed for a felony of the first degree. However, R.C. 2929.14(B) provides, in part:
. " f the court in imposing a sentence upon an offender for a felony elects or is required to impose a prison term on the offender and if the offender previously has not served a prison term, the court shall impose the shortest prison term authorized for the offense pursuant to division (A) of this section, unless the court finds on the record that the shortest prison term will demean the seriousness of the offender's conduct or will not adequately protect the public from future crime by the offender or others."
. The Ohio Supreme Court in State v. Edmonson (1999), 86 Ohio St.3d 324, 326, held that while R.C. 2929.14(B) requires the lower court to make its findings on the record, it does not require it to articulate its reasons for its findings. The court interpreted R.C. 2929.14(B) to mean that unless a court imposes the shortest term authorized on a felony offender who has never served a prison term, the record of the sentencing hearing must reflect that the court found either or both of the two statutorily sanctioned reasons for exceeding the minimum term warranted the longer sentence. Id.
. The appellant argues that because he has not previously served a prison term, the lower court was under a duty to impose the shortest prison term authorized for the offense. He concedes that the lower court did find pursuant to R.C. 2929.14(B) that the shortest prison term would not adequately protect the public from future crime by the appellant, but he argues that the lower court's reasoning to reach this conclusion was incorrect. He contends that the lower court, in considering the seriousness of the offense, utilized the wrong standard by allegedly equating the facts of his offense, a first degree felony, to a situatio
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