State v. Goney

Citations

• 2018 Ohio 2115

Syllabus

The trial court erred when it imposed a definite prison term for the appellant's repeat violent offender specifications pursuant to R.C. 2929.14(B)(2)(b)(iii). Appellant's convictions for robbery and kidnapping were not allied offenses, and therefore are not subject to merger. Appellant did not receive ineffective assistance because his counsel was unaware of the nature of a witness's alleged arrest warrant from another jurisdiction. Further, his failure to discover a cell phone found by jurors during deliberations inside a brown purse marked as State's Exhibit 55 does not constitute ineffective assistance. Appellant's argument that his counsel was ineffective for failing to inform him of the alleged plea deal offered by the State after the trial began pertains to matters outside the record, and is therefore more suited as a basis for a post-conviction relief petition. Trial court did not err when it overruled appellant's motion for a mistrial because appellant's argument was speculative, and there is no reasonable probability that, had the evidence been disclosed to the defense before trial, the result of the proceeding would have been different. Appellant's convictions for robbery, kidnapping, and abduction were supported by sufficient evidence, and the jury's guilty verdicts were not against the manifest weight of the evidence. Appellant's sentences for the RVO specifications are reversed and vacated. In all other respects, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed, and this matter is remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.