State v. Noble

Citations

• 2026 Ohio 2128

Syllabus

The record does not support appellant's claim that his pleas were not entered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Rather, the record fully supports the trial court's determination that appellant made a rational decision to accept the State's plea offer despite his protestations of innocence. Appellant did not receive ineffective assistance of counsel. Appellant cannot rely upon speculative, hindsight criticisms of the plea agreement to establish deficient performance by counsel. Furthermore, in light of the substantial sentencing benefit obtained through the plea agreement, appellant cannot credibly assert that he would have rejected the agreement and proceeded to trial. The trial court's sentencing decision was supported by the record and was not contrary to law.