State v. Midlam ( 2021 )


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  • [Cite as State v. Midlam, 
    2021-Ohio-1607
    .]
    IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO
    SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
    GREENE COUNTY
    STATE OF OHIO                                    :
    :
    Plaintiff-Appellee                       :   Appellate Case No. 2020-CA-44
    :
    v.                                               :   Trial Court Case No. 2010-CR-305
    :
    COLE MIDLAM                                      :   (Criminal Appeal from
    :   Common Pleas Court)
    Defendant-Appellant                      :
    :
    ...........
    OPINION
    Rendered on the 7th day of May, 2021.
    ...........
    MARCY A. VONDERWELL, Atty. Reg. No. 0078311, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney,
    Greene County Prosecutor’s Office, Appellate Division, 61 Greene Street, Suite 200,
    Xenia, Ohio 45385
    Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee
    COLE MIDLAM, #A706-027, P.O. Box 69, London, Ohio 43140
    Defendant-Appellant, Pro Se
    .............
    EPLEY, J.
    -2-
    {¶ 1} Cole Midlam appeals from a judgment of the Greene County Court of
    Common Pleas, which denied his motion for additional jail-time credit. For the following
    reasons, Midlam’s appeal will be dismissed as moot.
    I. Facts and Procedural History
    {¶ 2} Between January and May 2010, Midlam committed aggravated robberies at
    five Ohio pharmacies: three in Montgomery County (January 22, May 20, May 25), one
    in Greene County (May 2), and one in Highland County (May 16). During the robbery in
    this case, Midlam entered a CVS Pharmacy in Beavercreek, Ohio, proceeded to the
    pharmacy area, displayed a semi-automatic handgun, and demanded Oxycontin.
    Midlam received 1,200 Oxycontin pills, apologized, and left. Midlam later admitted to the
    aggravated robbery.
    {¶ 3} On May 28, 2010, Greendale police officers in Dearborn County, Indiana,
    received a dispatch to be on the lookout for a vehicle that had been involved in several
    armed robberies of pharmacies in Montgomery County, Ohio.          The dispatch further
    indicated that there was an arrest warrant for Midlam related to those robberies. The
    Greendale police officers observed and approached Midlam at a gas station. Officers
    located numerous pills, money, syringes, and other drug paraphernalia on Midlam’s
    person and in his vehicle, and he was arrested on drug possession charges.
    {¶ 4} Midlam remained in custody throughout the pendency of his cases in Ohio
    and Indiana.
    {¶ 5} On June 11, 2010, while Midlam was being held in Indiana, Midlam was
    indicted in Greene County on one count of aggravated robbery, a felony of the first
    -3-
    degree, with a firearm specification.
    {¶ 6} On June 28, 2010, Midlam was admitted into the Dearborn County Jail
    Chemical Addictions Program (JCAP). Midlam states, and the Dearborn County online
    docket confirms, that he was sentenced in his Dearborn County case on March 1, 2011.
    The record reflects that the Dearborn County court imposed ten years in prison, but with
    good time credit, the sentence was expected to be reduced to four years. See Indiana
    v. Midlam, Dearborn Case No. 15C01-1006-FB-000009.
    {¶ 7} On June 10, 2011, a year after Midlam’s indictment in this case, the Greene
    County prosecutor filed Form VIII, Interstate Agreement on Detainers (codified in Ohio at
    R.C. 2963.30 et seq.), which indicated that the following arrangements had been made:
    “It is our understanding that Montgomery County will take custody of Cole Midlam first.
    Following their prosecution, Cole Midlam will be transported to Greene County for
    prosecution and then to Highland County for their prosecution. Upon completion of all
    Ohio cases defendant will be returned to Indiana by Montgomery County.”
    {¶ 8} In July 2011, Midlam was transferred to the Montgomery County Jail, and on
    July 18, 2011, he was served with the Greene County indictment. On August 30, 2011,
    Midlam was convicted of three counts of aggravated robbery in Montgomery County and
    sentenced to ten years in prison, to be served concurrently with his Dearborn County
    sentence. See State v. Midlam, Montgomery C.P. No. 2010-CR-1691.
    {¶ 9} On December 6, 2011, Midlam pled guilty to the aggravated robbery in
    Greene County and agreed to pay $7,304.92 in restitution. In exchange for the plea, the
    State agreed to dismiss the firearm specification.      Immediately following the plea
    hearing, the trial court imposed an agreed sentence of a mandatory nine years in prison,
    -4-
    to be served concurrently with his ten-year sentences in Montgomery County, Ohio, and
    Dearborn County, Indiana. The trial court found that, at the time of sentencing, Midlam
    was entitled to 93 days of jail-time credit, plus credit for future days while awaiting
    transport to prison. The court also ordered him to pay the agreed restitution and court
    costs. At the time of his plea and sentencing, Midlam still faced a similar charge in
    Highland County.
    {¶ 10} On February 3, 2012, Midlam was convicted of aggravated robbery in
    Highland County and received a five-year sentence, to be served consecutively to his
    sentences in his other cases. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office returned Midlam
    to Indiana to complete his Indiana sentence following his conviction in Highland County.
    {¶ 11} On May 22, 2014, the trial court in this case found that Midlam had
    completed his sentence in Indiana, and it ordered that Midlam be remanded into the
    custody of the Greene County Sheriff’s Office for transportation to prison in Ohio to serve
    the remainder of his Greene County sentence. Midlam was transported to prison in Ohio
    on May 28, 2014.
    {¶ 12} On May 6, 2020, Midlam filed a motion for jail-time credit. He stated that
    he had received 996 days of jail-time credit – 903 days (the date of his conviction until
    May 27, 2014) plus 93 days previously granted. He argued, however, that he should
    have received 1,461 days, representing the period between his arrest on May 28, 2010
    and May 27, 2014, when he was released on the Indiana charges. Midlam supported
    his motion with four attachments: (1) the probable cause affidavit for Midlam’s arrest in
    Indiana, based on his possession of drugs; (2) correspondence to Midlam from the Ohio
    Bureau of Sentence Computation, stating his dates of incarceration in Indiana and the
    -5-
    sentence in Highland County; (3) a printout from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation
    and Correction (ODRC), showing Midlam’s sentences in Montgomery, Greene, and
    Highland Counties, the jail-time credit he received, and his anticipated release date; and
    (4) correspondence from Dearborn County JCAP regarding Midlam’s participation in the
    program.
    {¶ 13} The State opposed Midlam’s motion for additional jail-time credit. It argued
    that he was not entitled to jail-time credit for time served in another state on an unrelated
    offense.
    {¶ 14} The trial court denied Midlam’s motion. The court explained: “The jail time
    credit sought by Midlam was for time spent incarcerated in the State of Indiana. The
    Court finds the Indiana incarceration arose out of a set of facts separate and apart from
    Midlam’s Greene County conviction and sentence. Therefore, Midlam’s Motion for Jail
    Time Credit is hereby DENIED.”
    {¶ 15} Midlam appeals from the trial court’s judgment. His sole assignment of
    error claims that the trial court erred in denying his motion for additional jail-time credit.
    In this case, we need not reach the merits of Midlam’s claim, because he has completely
    served his Greene County sentence and that sentence has no bearing on his ultimate
    release date from prison.
    {¶ 16} “The role of courts is to decide adversarial legal cases and to issue
    judgments that can be carried into effect.” Cyran v. Cyran, 
    152 Ohio St.3d 484
    , 2018-
    Ohio-24, 
    97 N.E.3d 487
    , ¶ 9, citing Fortner v. Thomas, 
    22 Ohio St.2d 13
    , 14, 
    257 N.E.2d 371
     (1970); State v. Smith, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 27981, 
    2019-Ohio-3592
    , ¶ 8.
    “Under the mootness doctrine, American courts will not decide cases in which there is no
    -6-
    longer an actual legal controversy between the parties.” 
    Id.,
     citing In re A.G., 
    139 Ohio St.3d 572
    , 
    2014-Ohio-2597
    , 
    13 N.E.3d 1146
    , ¶ 37.
    {¶ 17} In general, once an offender completes his prison sentence, any alleged
    error regarding the calculation of jail-time credit becomes moot, because no actual
    controversy remains to be litigated and there is no available remedy to be granted. E.g.,
    State v. Pack, 2d Dist. Montgomery No. 28460, 
    2020-Ohio-5211
    , ¶ 6, citing State v.
    Eleyet, 
    2018-Ohio-4879
    , 
    125 N.E.3d 380
    , ¶ 3 (2d Dist.); State v. Robinson, 2d Dist.
    Montgomery Nos. 26712, 26713, 
    2016-Ohio-3277
    , ¶ 4.
    {¶ 18} According to the record before us, Midlam was admitted to prison in Ohio
    on May 28, 2014, and he was given 993 days of credit toward his nine-year mandatory
    sentence in his Greene County case. Even without the additional jail-time credit that
    Midlam requests, he completed his sentence in this case on or about September 1, 2020.
    {¶ 19} We recognize that Midlam remains incarcerated, and the ODRC website
    shows an expected release date of September 19, 2025. It appears that Midlam is
    currently serving his Highland County sentence, which was run consecutively to his other
    sentences. On the record before us, a grant of additional jail-time credit in this Greene
    County case would not affect Midlam’s release date. Midlam was serving a ten-year
    sentence from Montgomery County concurrently with his Greene County case, and even
    accounting for the 1,293 days of credit he received toward his Montgomery County
    sentence, it appears that Midlam completed his Montgomery County sentence after his
    Greene County sentence. Accordingly, Midlam’s request for additional jail-time credit in
    this case is moot.
    {¶ 20} Midlam’s assignment of error is overruled.
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    III. Conclusion
    {¶ 21} The appeal will be dismissed as moot.
    .............
    HALL, J. and WELBAUM, J., concur.
    Copies sent to:
    Marcy A. Vonderwell
    Cole Midlam
    Successor to Hon. Stephen Wolaver
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 2020-CA-44

Judges: Epley

Filed Date: 5/7/2021

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 5/7/2021