[Cite as State v. Smith,
2025-Ohio-2321.]
COURT OF APPEALS
DELAWARE COUNTY, OHIO
FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT
STATE OF OHIO, : JUDGES:
: Hon. Andrew J. King, P.J.
Plaintiff - Appellee : Hon. Robert G. Montgomery, J.
: Hon. Kevin W. Popham, J.
-vs- :
:
ERIC L. SMITH, : Case No. 2025 CAA 01 0010
:
Defendant - Appellant : OPINION
CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING: Appeal from the Delaware County
Court of Common Pleas, Case No.
15 CRI 04 0144C
JUDGMENT: Affirmed
DATE OF JUDGMENT: June 27, 2025
APPEARANCES:
For Plaintiff-Appellee For Defendant-Appellant
MELISSA A. SCHIFFEL ERIC SMITH, Pro Se
KATHERYN L. MUNGER LONDON CORRECTIONAL
DELAWARE COUNTY INSTITUTION, #718-949
PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE P.O. Box 69
145 North Union St., 3rd Floor London, OH 43140
Delaware, OH 43015
Montgomery, J.
STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND THE CASE
{¶1} Appellant was indicted on several charges on April 3, 2015, in the Delaware
County Court of Common Pleas. A jury trial was held on July 28, 2015. The jury found
Appellant guilty on the charges of Aggravated Burglary (F1), Kidnapping (F1), two counts
of Aggravated Robbery (F1), two counts of Having Weapons Under Disability (F3) and
Felonious Assault (F2). Judgment Entry, July 31, 2015.
{¶2} A sentencing hearing was held on September 14, 2015. By judgment entry
filed September 16, 2015, the trial court sentenced Appellant to an aggregate term of forty
years in prison, with nine years attributable to the aggravated robbery conviction and
three years attributable to the firearm specification that accompanied the aggravated
robbery charge. Appellant filed an appeal and this court affirmed his convictions and
sentence. State v. Smith, 2016-Ohio-7566 (5th Dist.).
{¶3} On October 27, 2023, Appellant filed a Motion to Correct Judgment Entry
Pursuant to Crim.R. 36. The trial court filed a Judgment Entry Denying the Defendant’s
October 27, 2023 Motion to Correct the Judgment on October 28, 2023. Appellant
appealed the trial court’s decision. This Court affirmed the trial court’s decision. State v.
Smith, 2023-Ohio-1429 (5th Dist.).
{¶4} Appellant filed a Motion to Correct Judgment Entry Pursuant to Criminal
Rule 36 with the trial court on March 14, 2024. The trial court denied Appellant’s motion
by Judgment Entry filed on March 15, 2024.
{¶5} Appellant filed a Motion to Resolve the Complicity to Aggravated Robbery
Conviction with the trial court on December 30, 2024.
{¶6} The trial court denied Appellant’s Motion to Resolve the Complicity to
Aggravated Robbery Conviction by Judgment Entry filed on January 2, 2025.
{¶7} Appellant has filed a timely appeal to the trial court’s decision and asserts
the following assignment of error:
{¶8} “I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED AND ABUSED ITS DISCRETION WHEN
IT FAILED TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE OF COMPLICITY TO AGGRAVATED ROBBERY.”
{¶9} Appellant’s motion contends that the “trial court failed to rendered [sic] any
sentence on the Complicity to Aggravated Robbery conviction.” Motion to Resolve the
Complicity to Aggravated Robbery Conviction, p. 2.
{¶10} Appellant’s brief states, “At the September 14, 2015, hearing the trial court
addressed aggravated robbery for count six, but failed to resolve complicity to aggravated
robbery as it pertained to count six pursuant to verdict form 21.” Appellant Brief, p. 6.
{¶11} The trial court issued a Judgment Entry on Sentence on September 16,
2015. The entry states, “It was ORDERED and ADJUDGED by the Court that the
Defendant, Eric L. Smith, as to the crime of Aggravated Robbery, as set forth in Count
Six of the Indictment, the same being a violation of Section 2911.01(A)(1) of the Ohio
Revised Code, and being a Felony of the First Degree, be imprisoned and confined at the
Correctional Reception Center at Orient, Ohio, for a stated prison term of nine years, to
be served concurrent to the sentence imposed on Count One and consecutive to the
sentence imposed on Count Two.” Judgment Entry on Sentence, p. 4.
{¶12} The judgment entry further states, “It was further ORDERED and
ADJUDGED by the Court that the Defendant, Eric L. Smith, as to the Firearm
Specification set forth at the end of the body of Count Six of the indictment, the Firearm
Specification being defined in Section 2941.145(A) of the Ohio Revised Code, be
imprisoned and confined at the Correctional Reception Center at Orient, Ohio for a
mandatory stated prison term of three years to be served consecutive to the sentence
imposed on Count Six.” Entry, p. 4.
{¶13} The trial court separately sentenced Appellant on the charge of Aggravated
Robbery (count six) and the firearm specification set forth at the end of the body of count
six. The verdict form signed by the jury and filed with the trial court on July 31, 2015,
states: “Further Finding on Firearm Specification as to Count Six. (Leave this page blank
if you find the Defendant Not guilty of Complicity to Aggravated Robbery).” The jury form
uses the terms “firearm specification” and “complicity to aggravated robbery” on the same
form.
{¶14} In the Judgment Entry Denying the Defendant’s December 30, 2024, Motion
for a Modified Sentencing Entry, the trial judge stated, “I see no sentencing-entry error
that must be corrected. Though the defendant’s latest motion suggests otherwise, I did
impose a sentence on the aggravated robbery charge in Count Six. Nothing about that
charge or the sentence on it remains unresolved now.”
{¶15} Upon review, we do not find that the trial court’s decision to deny
Appellant’s Motion to Resolve the Complicity to Aggravated Robbery Conviction was
unreasonable, arbitrary nor unconscionable.
{¶16} The sole assignment of error is denied.
CONCLUSION
{¶17} The judgment of the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Ohio filed
on January 2, 2025, is hereby affirmed.
By: Montgomery, J.
King, P.J. and
Popham, J. concur.
