Common Pleas Court Case Study
MILLERSBURG — A former Millersburg man who thought he had a chance of going home from prison after serving five-and-a-half years of an eight-year sentence will have to wait at least another two weeks to learn if he will be granted judicial release.
Delane A. Goodwin, 44, who has been serving his sentence at Richland Correctional Institution, sat in Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Rinfret’s courtroom Wednesday while his attorney, John Johnson Jr., and Prosecutor Steve Knowling talked with the judge about the hearing behind closed doors.
Rinfret informed Goodwin there would be no judicial release hearing because the prosecutor filed a motion objecting to the hearing, and it did not leave Johnson much time to look at it.
When asked by the judge
if he understood what was happening with the hearing, Goodwin indicated his attorney did talk to him and he understood it “somewhat.”
The 11th-hour motion filed by Knowling argues Goodwin is ineligible for judicial release because the second-degree felony for which he was convicted came with a mandatory prison term. Knowling cited a 2014 Ohio Supreme Court Case (Ohio v. Ware) where the court ruled a man was not eligible for judicial release because his entire prison sentence was mandatory. The court tried to impose a hybrid sentence in October 2010, Knowling argued. However, Goodwin’s entire sentence was a mandatory prison term.
The Supreme Court case seems to indicate Goodwin is not eligible for judicial release, Knowling said following the court proceeding. “I discovered it yesterday and filed it.”
In 2010, Goodwin and another woman were sentenced to prison for making methamphetamine in the presence of a juvenile. The lived in the 200 block of Walnut Street at the time. The residence had been raided July 23, 2010, by agents from the Medway Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement officials. They found about 8 grams of meth as well as various products used in the meth manufacture process. Drug activity at the residence was believed to be connected to a teen girl who tested positive for meth during a May drug screening by juvenile probation authorities.
Rinfret gave Johnson two weeks to respond to Knowling’s motion. The judge could have kept Goodwin incarcerated in the Holmes County Jail. However, because he would not receive credit for time served in the county jail, Goodwin is going back to prison for now.
Delane A. Goodwin, 44, who has been serving his sentence at Richland Correctional Institution, sat in Common Pleas Court Judge Robert Rinfret’s courtroom Wednesday while his attorney, John Johnson Jr., and Prosecutor Steve Knowling talked with the judge about the hearing behind closed doors.
Rinfret informed Goodwin there would be no judicial release hearing because the prosecutor filed a motion objecting to the hearing, and it did not leave Johnson much time to look at it.
When asked by the judge
if he understood what was happening with the hearing, Goodwin indicated his attorney did talk to him and he understood it “somewhat.”
The 11th-hour motion filed by Knowling argues Goodwin is ineligible for judicial release because the second-degree felony for which he was convicted came with a mandatory prison term. Knowling cited a 2014 Ohio Supreme Court Case (Ohio v. Ware) where the court ruled a man was not eligible for judicial release because his entire prison sentence was mandatory. The court tried to impose a hybrid sentence in October 2010, Knowling argued. However, Goodwin’s entire sentence was a mandatory prison term.
The Supreme Court case seems to indicate Goodwin is not eligible for judicial release, Knowling said following the court proceeding. “I discovered it yesterday and filed it.”
In 2010, Goodwin and another woman were sentenced to prison for making methamphetamine in the presence of a juvenile. The lived in the 200 block of Walnut Street at the time. The residence had been raided July 23, 2010, by agents from the Medway Drug Enforcement Agency and local law enforcement officials. They found about 8 grams of meth as well as various products used in the meth manufacture process. Drug activity at the residence was believed to be connected to a teen girl who tested positive for meth during a May drug screening by juvenile probation authorities.
Rinfret gave Johnson two weeks to respond to Knowling’s motion. The judge could have kept Goodwin incarcerated in the Holmes County Jail. However, because he would not receive credit for time served in the county jail, Goodwin is going back to prison for now.