State v. White

Citations

• 2025 Ohio 5346

Syllabus

Guilty plea; Crim.R. 11(C); prejudice; driver's license suspension; ineffective assistance of counsel; failure to enter guilty plea; maximum sentence; consecutive sentence; principles of felony sentencing; sentencing factors; R.C. 2953.08(G)(2); R.C. 2929.14(C)(4); R.C. 2929.11; R.C. 2929.12. Judgment affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. In this consolidated and delayed appeal, defendant-appellant appeals his convictions for aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-24-694023-A (\CR-694023\) and domestic violence and endangering children in Cuyahoga C.P. No. CR-24-694024-A (\CR-694024\). Appellant challenges the validity of his guilty pleas, defense counsel's effectiveness, his domestic-violence conviction, and the trial court's imposition of maximum and consecutive sentences. First, appellant challenges his guilty pleas in CR-694023, claiming that he did not understand their \full effect\ since the trial court never informed him that the maximum penalty included a mandatory driver's license suspension. However, appellant has not met his burden of demonstrating prejudice, we cannot say that his plea was unknowingly, unintelligently, and involuntarily entered. Next, appellant claims that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel in CR-694023. But appellant's ineffective-assistance-of-counsel claim focuses solely on sentencing outcomes; appears to be misguided, tenuous, and purely speculative at best; and lacks any explanation as to how his counsel's alleged failure amounts to deficient performance. Consequently, appellant fails to set forth a valid basis for reversal of his CR-694023 convictions due to ineffective-assistance-of-counsel. Appellant also argues that his 18-month sentence for amended Count 1 in CR-694024 is contrary to law since he did not enter a valid plea to the domestic-violence charge. The State concedes that appellant never formally entered a plea to amended Count 1, despite intentions to do