State v. Cooper

Citations

• 2019 Ohio 2813

Syllabus

ALLIED OFFENSES – COUNSEL – SENTENCING: Where an offense was merged at sentencing, defendant was not convicted of that offense and could not raise on appeal a challenge to the sufficiency and weight of the evidence supporting the finding of guilt on that offense. Where any testimony that a psychologist would have offered regarding defendant's mental health was purely speculative, defendant had twice undergone competency evaluations and was found competent to stand trial, and the trial court was made aware of defendant's mental-health issues through defendant's own testimony and counsel's statements at sentencing, counsel was not ineffective for failing to have a psychologist testify in mitigation at sentencing. Where the trial court had merged two counts of felonious assault, but the sentencing entry stated that defendant had been convicted of two counts of felonious assault and that sentences had been imposed on each count, the entry contained a clerical error that must be corrected with a nunc pro tunc entry.