Ohio Code 2929.02 – Murder penalties
(A) Whoever is convicted of or pleads guilty to aggravated murder in violation of section 2903.01 of the Revised Code shall suffer death or be imprisoned for life, as determined pursuant to sections 2929.022, 2929.03, and 2929.04 of the Revised Code, except that no person who is not found to have been eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the offense shall be imprisoned for life without parole, and that no person who raises the matter of age pursuant to section 2929.023 of the Revised Code and who is not found to have been eighteen years of age or older at the time of the commission of the offense and no person who raises the matter of the person’s serious mental illness at the time of the alleged commission of the offense pursuant to section 2929.025 of the Revised Code and is found under that section to be ineligible for a sentence of death due to serious mental illness shall suffer death. In addition, the offender may be fined an amount fixed by the court, but not more than twenty-five thousand dollars.
Terms Used In Ohio Code 2929.02
- imprisonment: means being imprisoned under a sentence imposed for an offense or serving a term of imprisonment, prison term, jail term, term of local incarceration, or other term under a sentence imposed for an offense in an institution under the control of the department of rehabilitation and correction, a county, multicounty, municipal, municipal-county, or multicounty-municipal jail or workhouse, a minimum security jail, a community-based correctional facility, or another facility described or referred to in section 2929. See Ohio Code 1.05
- Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
- Offender: means a person who, in this state, is convicted of or pleads guilty to a felony or a misdemeanor. See Ohio Code 2929.01
- Person: includes an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, and association. See Ohio Code 1.59
- Prison: means a residential facility used for the confinement of convicted felony offenders that is under the control of the department of rehabilitation and correction and includes a violation sanction center operated under authority of section 2967. See Ohio Code 2929.01
- Prison term: includes either of the following sanctions for an offender:
(a) A stated prison term;
(b) A term in a prison shortened by, or with the approval of, the sentencing court pursuant to section 2929. See Ohio Code 2929.01
- Sentence: means the sanction or combination of sanctions imposed by the sentencing court on an offender who is convicted of or pleads guilty to an offense. See Ohio Code 2929.01
- Whoever: includes all persons, natural and artificial; partners; principals, agents, and employees; and all officials, public or private. See Ohio Code 1.02
(B)(1) Except as otherwise provided in division (B)(2) or (3) of this section, whoever is convicted of or pleads guilty to murder in violation of section 2903.02 of the Revised Code shall be imprisoned for an indefinite term of fifteen years to life.
(2) Except as otherwise provided in division (B)(3) of this section, if a person is convicted of or pleads guilty to murder in violation of section 2903.02 of the Revised Code, the victim of the offense was less than thirteen years of age, and the offender also is convicted of or pleads guilty to a sexual motivation specification that was included in the indictment, count in the indictment, or information charging the offense, the court shall impose an indefinite prison term of thirty years to life pursuant to division (B)(3) of section 2971.03 of the Revised Code.
(3) Except as otherwise provided in this division, if a person is convicted of or pleads guilty to murder in violation of section 2903.02 of the Revised Code and also is convicted of or pleads guilty to a sexual motivation specification and a sexually violent predator specification that were included in the indictment, count in the indictment, or information that charged the murder, the court shall impose upon the offender a term of life imprisonment without parole that shall be served pursuant to section 2971.03 of the Revised Code. If the offender was under eighteen years of age at the time of the offense, the court shall impose an indefinite prison term of thirty years to life.
(4) In addition, the offender may be fined an amount fixed by the court, but not more than fifteen thousand dollars.
(C) If an offender receives or received a sentence of life imprisonment without parole, a sentence of life imprisonment, a definite sentence, or a sentence to an indefinite prison term under this chapter for an aggravated murder or murder that was committed when the offender was under eighteen years of age, the offender’s parole eligibility shall be determined under section 2967.132 of the Revised Code.
(D) The court shall not impose a fine or fines for aggravated murder or murder which, in the aggregate and to the extent not suspended by the court, exceeds the amount which the offender is or will be able to pay by the method and within the time allowed without undue hardship to the offender or to the dependents of the offender, or will prevent the offender from making reparation for the victim’s wrongful death.
(E)(1) In addition to any other sanctions imposed for a violation of section 2903.01 or 2903.02 of the Revised Code, if the offender used a motor vehicle as the means to commit the violation, the court shall impose upon the offender a class two suspension of the offender’s driver’s license, commercial driver’s license, temporary instruction permit, probationary license, or nonresident operating privilege as specified in division (A)(2) of section 4510.02 of the Revised Code.
(2) As used in division (E) of this section, “motor vehicle” has the same meaning as in section 4501.01 of the Revised Code.
The Legislative Service Commission presents the text of this section as a composite of the section as amended by multiple acts of the General Assembly. This presentation recognizes the principle stated in R.C. 1.52(B) that amendments are to be harmonized if reasonably capable of simultaneous operation.