State v. Ellison

Citations

• 241 N.E.3d 349
• 2024 Ohio 1377

Syllabus

Appellant's conviction and sentence for aggravated murder with a firearm specification is reversed, because appellant was denied his constitutional right to the effective assistance of counsel. Appellant was completely deprived of counsel at critical stages leading up to the trial court's vacation of his initial guilty plea, pursuant to a plea agreement with state, to the lesser offense of murder with a firearm specification. Prosecutors twice met and talked with appellant outside the presence of appellant's counsel during critical stages of the proceedings. Appellant was also denied the right to the effective assistance of counsel at the hearing during which the trial court vacated his initial guilty plea. The trial court's last-minute appointment of replacement counsel who had no relationship with appellant and no knowledge of appellant's case beyond what he was told in the moment by prosecutors did not afford appellant effective assistance of counsel. Under the circumstances, the likelihood that any replacement lawyer, even a fully competent one, could have provided effective assistance was so small that a presumption of prejudice was appropriate.