Hearing to correct sentencing entry

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The judge who sentenced Jermaine Mc-Kinney of Youngstown to two life sentences without parole eligibility for killing two women in 2005 will have to have another hearing in the case to correct his sentencing entry.

The correction will clarify the sentence, not change the amount of time McKinney will spend behind bars.

McKinney, 31, an inmate at Mansfield Correctional Institution, killed Rebecca Cliburn, 45, and her mother, Wanda Rollyson, 70, in Rollyson’s Newton Township home Dec. 21, 2005.

In an appeal, McKinney argued he was entitled to a resentencing hearing because Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court did not notify McKinney during his November 2006 sentencing hearing of the terms of his probation in the event that McKinney ever gets released from prison.

The Trumbull County prosecutor’s office argued that such a notification was not necessary because McKinney’s sentence did not include the possibility of parole, but the 11th District Court of Appeals ruled otherwise.

The appellate court said Judge McKay must have a “limited hearing” in which he issues a correction to his previous sentencing judgment entry.

In the entry, Judge McKay must give the terms of probation that would apply to the first-degree felonies of which McKinney was convicted — aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery and kidnapping, the court said. The probationary term for those offenses is five years.

McKinney is entitled to be present at the hearing, but the court can also permit McKinney to appear by video conferencing equipment if available. McKinney and the prosecutor’s office will be allowed to make a statement if they wish. No hearing date has been set.