State v. Kalish
Feb 02, 2008OUTCOME: Judgment affirmed, but appellate courts are now required to consider whether an error of law occurred at the trial court, during sentencing, before applying an abuse of discretion standard.
I co-counseled this case with attorney Rick Perez. In a plea agreement reached after we were halfway through a suppression hearing, the client pleaded guilty to a count of aggravated vehicular homicide ... . I assisted attorney Perez in pursuing a sentencing appeal, which ended up before the Supreme Court of Ohio. We argued for better guidelines in felony sentencing, following removal of protections after the Supreme Court of Ohio's decision in State v. Foster, which eliminated judicial fact finding during sentencing, following the Supreme Court of the United States' decision in Blakely v. Washington. See the Supreme Court of Ohio's opinion here: http://caselaw.findlaw.com/oh-supreme-court/1440352.html