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Ohio Revised Code

Ohio Rev. Code § 2929.06 (2026)

Resentencing hearing

✓ current as of May 2026
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Effective:
April 12, 2021
Latest Legislation:
Senate Bill 256, House Bill 136 - 133rd General Assembly
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(A)(1) If a sentence of death imposed upon an offender is set aside, nullified, vacated, or voided for any of the following reasons, the trial court that sentenced the offender shall conduct a hearing to resentence the offender in accordance with division (A)(2) of this section:

(a) The court of appeals, in a case in which a sentence of death was imposed for an offense committed before January 1, 1995, or the supreme court, in a case in which the supreme court reviews the sentence upon appeal, could not affirm the sentence of death under the standards imposed by section 2929.05 of the Revised Code.

(b) The sole reason that the statutory procedure for imposing the sentence of death that is set forth in sections 2929.03 and 2929.04 of the Revised Code is unconstitutional.

(c) The sentence of death is set aside, nullified, or vacated pursuant to division (C) of section 2929.05 of the Revised Code.

(d) A court has determined that the offender is a person with an intellectual disability under standards set forth in decisions of the supreme court of this state or the United States supreme court.

(e) The sentence of death is voided by a court pursuant to division (H) of section 2953.21 of the Revised Code.

(2) At a resentencing hearing conducted under division (A)(1) of this section, the court shall impose upon the offender a sentence of life imprisonment or an indefinite term consisting of a minimum term of thirty years and a maximum term of life imprisonment that is determined as specified in this division. If the sentence of death was voided by a court pursuant to division (H) of section 2953.21 of the Revised Code, the offender has waived any right to be sentenced to any sentence other than life imprisonment without parole as described in division (A)(3)(b) of that section and the court shall impose a sentence of life imprisonment without parole. If the immediately preceding sentence does not apply and if division (D) of section 2929.03 of the Revised Code, at the time the offender committed the aggravated murder for which the sentence of death was imposed, required the imposition when a sentence of death was not imposed of a sentence of life imprisonment without parole or a sentence of an indefinite term consisting of a minimum term of thirty years and a maximum term of life imprisonment to be imposed pursuant to division (A) or (B)(3) of section 2971.03 of the Revised Code and served pursuant to that section, except as provided in division (F) of this section, the court shall impose the sentence so required. In all other cases, except as provided in division (F) of this section, the sentences of life imprisonment that are available at the hearing, and from which the court shall impose sentence, shall be the same sentences of life imprisonment that were available under division (D) of section 2929.03 or under section 2909.24 of the Revised Code at the time the offender committed the offense for which the sentence of death was imposed. Nothing in this division regarding the resentencing of an offender shall affect the operation of section 2971.03 of the Revised Code.

(B) Whenever any court of this state or any federal court sets aside, nullifies, or vacates a sentence of death imposed upon an offender because of error that occurred in the sentencing phase of the trial and if division (A) of this section does not apply, the trial court that sentenced the offender shall conduct a new hearing to resentence the offender. If the offender was tried by a jury, the trial court shall impanel a new jury for the hearing. If the offender was tried by a panel of three judges, that panel or, if necessary, a new panel of three judges shall conduct the hearing. At the hearing, the court or panel shall follow the procedure set forth in division (D) of section 2929.03 of the Revised Code in determining whether to impose upon the offender a sentence of death, a sentence of life imprisonment, or an indefinite term consisting of a minimum term of thirty years and a maximum term of life imprisonment. If, pursuant to that procedure, the court or panel determines that it will impose a sentence other than a sentence of death, except as provided in division (F) of this section, the court or panel shall impose upon the offender one of the sentences of life imprisonment that could have been imposed at the time the offender committed the offense for which the sentence of death was imposed, determined as specified in this division, or an indefinite term consisting of a minimum term of thirty years and a maximum term of life imprisonment that is determined as specified in this division. If division (D) of section 2929.03 of the Revised Code, at the time the offender committed the aggravated murder for which the sentence of death was imposed, required the imposition when a sentence of death was not imposed of a sentence of life imprisonment without parole or a sentence of an indefinite term consisting of a minimum term of thirty years and a maximum term of life imprisonment to be imposed pursuant to division (A) or (B)(3) of section 2971.03 of the Revised Code and served pursuant to that section, except as provided in division (F) of this section, the court or panel shall impose the sentence so required. In all other cases, except as provided in division (F) of this section, the sentences of life imprisonment that are available at the hearing, and from which the court or panel shall impose sentence, shall be the same sentences of life imprisonment that were available under division (D) of section 2929.03 or under section 2909.24 of the Revised Code at the time the offender committed the offense for which the sentence of death was imposed.

(C) If a sentence of life imprisonment without parole imposed upon an offender pursuant to section 2929.021 or 2929.03 of the Revised Code is set aside, nullified, or vacated for the sole reason that the statutory procedure for imposing the sentence of life imprisonment without parole that is set forth in sections 2929.03 and 2929.04 of the Revised Code is unconstitutional, the trial court that sentenced the offender shall conduct a hearing to resentence the offender to life imprisonment with parole eligibility after serving twenty-five full years of imprisonment or to life imprisonment with parole eligibility after serving thirty full years of imprisonment.

(D) Nothing in this section limits or restricts the rights of the state to appeal any order setting aside, nullifying, or vacating a conviction or sentence of death, when an appeal of that nature otherwise would be available.

(E) This section, as amended by H.B. 184 of the 125th general assembly, shall apply to all offenders who have been sentenced to death for an aggravated murder that was committed on or after October 19, 1981, or for terrorism that was committed on or after May 15, 2002. This section, as amended by H.B. 184 of the 125th general assembly, shall apply equally to all such offenders sentenced to death prior to, on, or after March 23, 2005, including offenders who, on March 23, 2005, are challenging their sentence of death and offenders whose sentence of death has been set aside, nullified, or vacated by any court of this state or any federal court but who, as of March 23, 2005, have not yet been resentenced.

(F) A court shall not impose a sentence of life imprisonment without parole on a person under division (A) or (B) of this section for an offense that was committed when the person was under eighteen years of age.

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.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 87 cases (17 in the last 5 years), 1986–2026 · leading case: State v. White, 2012 Ohio 2583 (Ohio 2012).
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State v. White, 2012 Ohio 2583 (Ohio 2012). · cites it 196× “Effective October 16, 1996, R.C. 2929.06 was amended by the adoption of R.”
State v. Davis, 2014 Ohio 1615 (Ohio 2014). · cites it 74× “(The General Assembly later amended R.C. 2929.06 to abrogate the Penix rule. See State v.”
State v. Gross, 2002 Ohio 5524 (Ohio 2002). · cites it 13× “{¶ 217} It is apparent that, for the same reasons cited in Justice Holmes’s dissent in Penix , Section (A) of R.C. 2929.06 does not apply to the case sub judice.”
State v. Roberts (Slip Opinion), 2017 Ohio 2998 (Ohio 2017). · cites it 13× “In her fourth proposition, Roberts contends that if a death sentence is permissible in such a situation, R.C. 2929.06(B) requires that the substitute judge empanel a new jury and conduct a new mitigation hearing before imposing a death sentence.”
State v. Williams, 814 N.E.2d 818 (Ohio 2004). · cites it 23× “Accordingly, we vacated Williams’s death sentence and remanded the cause to the trial court for resentencing pursuant to current R.C. 2929.06, which provides: {¶ 3} “(B) If the sentence of death that is imposed upon an offender is vacated upon appeal because of error that…”
State v. Hancock, 840 N.E.2d 1032 (Ohio 2006). · cites it 5× “Eligibility for Death Sentence on Remand {¶ 134} Former R.C. 2929.06(B), as it was in effect when Hancock committed the murder on November 13, 2000, provided: {¶ 135} “If the sentence of death that is imposed upon an offender is vacated upon appeal because of error that occurred…”
State v. Hubbard, 2020 Ohio 856 (Ohio Ct. App. 2020). · cites it 9× “In White, the supreme court was tasked with examining the constitutionality of R.C. 2929.06(B), a statute providing that where an offender's death sentence has been set aside, the trial court must empanel a new jury and conduct a new penalty hearing.”
State v. Davis, 528 N.E.2d 925 (Ohio 1988). · cites it 11× “Therefore we hold that when a reviewing court vacates the death sentence of a defendant imposed by a three-judge panel due to error occurring at the penalty phase, not otherwise covered by R.C. 2929.06, and the reviewing court does not find the evidence to be legally…”
State v. Kirkland (Slip Opinion), 2014 Ohio 1966 (Ohio 2014). · cites it 4× “But because I believe that the prosecutorial misconduct in this case violated Kirkland’s rights to due process, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s 46 January Term, 2014 decision to affirm his death sentence and would remand the case for a new sentencing hearing pursuant…”
Von Clark Davis v. Ralph Coyle, Warden, 475 F.3d 761 (6th Cir. 2007). · cites it 5× “Specifically, Davis argues that the then-applicable provisions of Ohio Rev.Code § 2929.06 forbade a trial court from reimposing the death penalty upon resentencing after concluding that a non-statutory aggravating circumstance has been improperly considered by the sentencer.”
State v. Adams (Slip Opinion), 2015 Ohio 3954 (Ohio 2015). · cites it 3× “{¶ 132} We hereby vacate the sentence of death and remand the cause to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing consistent with this decision and pursuant to R.C. 2929.06(A). Judgment affirmed in part and vacated in part, and cause remanded.”
State v. Johnson (Slip Opinion), 2015 Ohio 4903 (Ohio 2015). · cites it 5× “05(A), death sentence vacated and cause remanded for resentencing consistent with R.C. 2929.06―Aggravating circumstances do not outweigh mitigating factors beyond reasonable doubt―Death penalty inappropriate.”
Show all 87 citing cases →
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2929.06(A) — 6 cases
State v. Adams (Slip Opinion), 2015 Ohio 3954 (Ohio 2015). “{¶ 132} We hereby vacate the sentence of death and remand the cause to the trial court for a new sentencing hearing consistent with this decision and pursuant to R.C. 2929.06(A). Judgment affirmed in part and vacated in part, and cause remanded.”
State v. Jackson (Slip Opinion), 2014 Ohio 3707 (Ohio 2014).
State v. Graham (Slip Opinion), 2020 Ohio 6700 (Ohio 2020).
State v. White, 2012 Ohio 2583 (Ohio 2012). “Effective October 16, 1996, R.C. 2929.06 was amended by the adoption of R.”
State v. Johnson, 2017 Ohio 1148 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2929.06(A)(1) — 1 case
State v. Burley, 2024 Ohio 4719 (Ohio Ct. App. 2024).
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2929.06(A)(2) — 3 cases
State v. White, 2012 Ohio 2583 (Ohio 2012). “Effective October 16, 1996, R.C. 2929.06 was amended by the adoption of R.”
State v. Davis, 2014 Ohio 1615 (Ohio 2014). “(The General Assembly later amended R.C. 2929.06 to abrogate the Penix rule. See State v.”
State v. Williams, 814 N.E.2d 818 (Ohio 2004). “Accordingly, we vacated Williams’s death sentence and remanded the cause to the trial court for resentencing pursuant to current R.C. 2929.06, which provides: {¶ 3} “(B) If the sentence of death that is imposed upon an offender is vacated upon appeal because of error that…”
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2929.06(B) — 27 cases
State v. White, 2012 Ohio 2583 (Ohio 2012). “Effective October 16, 1996, R.C. 2929.06 was amended by the adoption of R.”
State v. Davis, 2014 Ohio 1615 (Ohio 2014). “(The General Assembly later amended R.C. 2929.06 to abrogate the Penix rule. See State v.”
State v. Gross, 2002 Ohio 5524 (Ohio 2002). “{¶ 217} It is apparent that, for the same reasons cited in Justice Holmes’s dissent in Penix , Section (A) of R.C. 2929.06 does not apply to the case sub judice.”
State v. Roberts (Slip Opinion), 2017 Ohio 2998 (Ohio 2017). “In her fourth proposition, Roberts contends that if a death sentence is permissible in such a situation, R.C. 2929.06(B) requires that the substitute judge empanel a new jury and conduct a new mitigation hearing before imposing a death sentence.”
State v. Hancock, 840 N.E.2d 1032 (Ohio 2006). “Eligibility for Death Sentence on Remand {¶ 134} Former R.C. 2929.06(B), as it was in effect when Hancock committed the murder on November 13, 2000, provided: {¶ 135} “If the sentence of death that is imposed upon an offender is vacated upon appeal because of error that occurred…”
— Ohio Rev. Code § 2929.06(E) — 4 cases
State v. White, 2012 Ohio 2583 (Ohio 2012). “Effective October 16, 1996, R.C. 2929.06 was amended by the adoption of R.”
State v. Davis, 2014 Ohio 1615 (Ohio 2014). “(The General Assembly later amended R.C. 2929.06 to abrogate the Penix rule. See State v.”
State v. Golsby, 2020 Ohio 4651 (Ohio Ct. App. 2020).
State v. Cotten, 2013 Ohio 1960 (Ohio Ct. App. 2013).
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.