State v. Willan
Annotate this CaseAfter a jury trial, Defendant was convicted of sixty-eight counts, all stemming from Defendant’s business enterprises. As relevant to this case, the jury found Defendant guilty of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity in violation of Ohio’s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute. Relying on Ohio Rev. Code.14(D)(3)(a), the trial court sentenced Defendant to a mandatory term of ten years on the RICO count. The court of appeals vacated the mandatory ten-year prison term imposed for the RICO count, declaring that section 2929.14(D)(3)(a) was ambiguous. The Supreme Court reversed in part, holding that section 2929.14(D)(3)(a) unambiguously applied to Defendant and that Defendant fell squarely within the scope of section 2929.14(D)(3)(a). After the U.S. Supreme Court decided Alleyne v. United States, Defendant petitioned for certiorari, arguing that Alleyne prohibited imposition of the mandatory ten-year prison term. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision and remanded. The Supreme Court reinstated its prior judgment, holding that imposition of Ohio Rev. Code 2929.14(D)(3)(a)’s mandatory sentence did not offend Defendant’s constitutional rights under Alleyne, as imposition of the mandatory sentence occurred without any judicial fact-finding.
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