State v. Gillespie

Citations

• 2021 Ohio 3650

Syllabus

Appellant's convictions were supported by sufficient evidence and were not against the manifest weight of the evidence where the state presented evidence that appellant aided, abetted, and encouraged the principal offender in committing aggravated robbery and felonious assault by setting up a meeting with the victim and using her firearm to ensure the victim's compliance. The trial court did not commit plain error by not merging appellant's convictions where the robbery and assault were committed with different animus and resulted in separate harms to the victim. The trial court properly ordered appellant to serve consecutive firearm specifications where R.C. 2929.14(B)(1)(g) requires a court to impose sentences on the two most serious firearm specifications and the trial court specifically ordered in its sentencing entry that the firearm specifications were to be served consecutive to the concurrent sentence for the underlying felonies. Appellant was not denied effective assistance of counsel because her convictions were not subject to merger and because there is no indication in the record that any attempt at severing her trial from her codefendant would have been successful.