Appeals court ordered a judge to resentence a killer

An appeals court ordered a judge to resentence a killer in accordance with the law that was in effect at the time of the slaying

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A three-judge panel of the 7th District Court of Appeals has unanimously ordered Judge Maureen A. Sweeney to resentence a man who killed his wife in accordance with the sentencing law that was in effect when he committed the crime, and not the one that took effect later.

The order came Monday in the case of Daniel Wellington, 57, of Knapp Avenue, who pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the Aug. 5, 2011, strangulation of his wife, Doris, 44, in the couple’s residence.

In April 2013, Judge Sweeney, of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, sentenced Wellington to 11 years in prison.

Wellington appealed that sentence on the grounds that Ohio House Bill 86, which set a three-to-11-year prison sentencing range for this crime, did not take effect until Sept. 30, 2011, which was eight weeks after the slaying.

The appeals court ordered Judge Sweeney to re-sentence Wellington in accordance with the sentencing law that was in effect on Aug. 5, 2011, which set a three-to-10-year prison term range for involuntary manslaughter.

The Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office did not dispute Wellington’s assertion in the appeal.

When he filed the notice of appeal, Wellington’s lawyer, James Gentile, protested that Judge Sweeney had unconstitutionally “inflicted a greater punishment than allowed by law at the time of the offense.”

Gentile cited the prohibition against ex post facto laws in Article I, Section 9, of the U.S. Constitution.