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State v. Preston6/8/2005
ecently held, the trial court must give both its findings and reasons at the sentencing hearing. State v. Comer, 99 Ohio St.3d 463, 2003-Ohio-4165, at 20.
{ } In this case, the trial court made the following statements at trial:
{ } "You have essentially negotiated consecutive sentences as part of your plea negotiation in this. I am nevertheless required by law to review that recommendation, although apparently you're not objecting to it, and apply the sentencing statute as has been defined also by the Ohio Supreme Court * * *, and in order to justify the imposition of consecutive sentences, the court is required * * * make specific findings and/or provide reasons on the record and one of those is, that the court must find that consecutive sentences are necessary to protect the public from future crime, and certainly with your substantial misdemeanor driving record, which includes 4 prior DUI's, and 10 license suspensions, and the fact that at 11:30 in the morning you were significantly intoxicated in this case, and driving under suspension, there is, well you do present a clear and present danger to the driving public of this state and for that matter the United States. This unfortunate circumstance, whether you describe it as an accident or otherwise, was an incident waiting to happen, and sooner or later it was bound to happen.
The problem with it is, it was entirely avoidable.
{ } "I have had cases in the 22 or 23 years I've been on the bench here, where a defendant has come in and either been convicted of or pled guilty to an aggravated vehicular homicide with an aggravating circumstance of intoxication and/or DUS on a one time basis. That was the first collar for DUI. That was the first collar for DUS. In your situation, you have repeatedly operated a motor vehicle under the influence, in and of itself bad enough. In and of itself a justification for a significant sentence. Compounded now by the fact that with 10 prior suspensions and under suspension at the time, you knew full well you had no driving privileges, drunk or sober, yet you decided to operate a vehicle with no driving privileges and extremely intoxicated, and at 11:30 in the morning, you either had to get a really early start to test .174 or you must have started the day before and never quit. Clearly there is a need for a consecutive sentence to protect the public from future criminal activity on your part.
{ } "Also under the consecutive sentencing statute, the court finds that there is a clear need to punish you for what you have done and you know, in all honesty Mr. Preston, there is no amount of prison time that this court or any court could impose upon you which would make this situation right. There is no amount of prison term available that compensates any family for the loss of a loved one. What I read in the pre-sentence report, what I've heard today, what I've read in the Victim Impact Statement suggests that the decedent, notwithstanding I believe 80 years of age, was still a vibrant and healthy man and with the nature of medical services today, arguably could have lived to be a 100 years of age and you cut that life span down and deprived the family of the patriarch of the family for generations to come. Punishment is certainly in order.
{ } "The court also finds that consecutive sentences would not be disproportionate to the seriousness of your conduct and that the, and to the danger that you pose to the public. The court finds that the harm caused to the victims in this case was so great that no single term of incarceration could possibly reflect the seriousness of your conduct, and frankly much less than the maximum sentences in this case would clearly d
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