Ohio Criminal Appeals Lawyer Blog

Use caution when you enter a plea agreement with the State. Even if the State agrees to recommend (to the Judge at sentencing) a sentence of "no more than four years," do not think that protects you from being sentenced to a lot more than that. The Judge still has the final say in what you are sentenced to.

That is what happened to David Liskany in Greene County, Ohio. Liskany pleaded guilty to charges that could have landed him in prison for 21 years and could have resulted in him having to pay fines of up to $40,000. The plea agreement was that the prosecutor would recommend a sentence of four years or less. But Liskany was sentenced to 16 years! Some deal.

Liskany tried to get out of his plea, but the trial judge would not let him and the Second District Court of Appeals affirmed that decision. However, Liskany's sentence was reversed and the case was remanded for re-sentencing since the first time around it looked like the trial judge may have been persuaded by a letter written by a Deputy Sheriff which recommended Liskany get a long sentence.

So Liskany is stuck with his plea and he faces up to 21 years in prison. The Judge could sentence Liskany to much more than 4 years on remand as long as he claims he is not doing it based on the Sheriff Deputy's letter.

The lone dissenting judge would have let Liskany out of his plea because the "promise" by the prosecutor to recommend a sentence of no more than 4 years was basically a sham that suckered Liskany into the plea. A plea he is now stuck with. The case is State v. Liskany, 2011-Ohio-4456.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

Contact me 24/7 by sending an email to ohiocriminalappealslawyer@gmail.com

Getting out of a plea is hard. I have been able to get three pleas reversed on appeal as you can see here.

In order to get a plea reversed, you have to find something that was done incorrectly at your plea hearing. Mistakes happen and it is possible. But today the Ohio Supreme Court made it harder for a defendant to get out of his plea as you can read in State v. Barker, 2011-Ohio-4130.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

Contact me 24/7 by sending an email to ohiocriminalappealslawyer@gmail.com

Previously I warned you about appealing and the dangers you face if you decide to appeal. Read my blog entry on that topic here. A recent case makes my point.

Back in 2008 I won an appeal for Quintin A. Howard. I was able to get him out of his plea. On remand he received a lesser sentence as you can read here. Well a co-defendant of his, Michael A. Minkner had another attorney on appeal and Minker did not raise the issue(s) I raised in Howard's appeal so Minker was stuck with a longer prison term.

If you do not raise issues you could raise on direct appeal, you are generally precluded from raising them later by "res judicata." Minker lost a couple appeals until finally someone noticed that post-release control was not properly imposed on him. He was re-sentenced pursuant to R.C. 2929.191 to fix the PRC. While in front of the trial judge, the State, Minker, and the judge all agreed that Minker's sentence should be reduced by a year. Minker was still not happy with that and so he appealed from that decision.

Problem is, the trial judge had no authority to reduce Minker's sentence at that point - only to fix the PRC problem. On appeal, the Second District Court of Appeals reversed the new sentence. The old, year-longer, sentence remains in effect. Read the decision in State v. Minker, 2011-Ohio-3106, here.

Think before you appeal. You may do yourself more harm than good by appealing.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

An Erie County judge told a defendant that he would be eligible for judicial release if he pleaded guilty. After taking the plea, the judge sentenced the defendant to twelve years in prison which made the defendant ineligible for judicial release. On direct appeal, the Sixth District Court of Appeals for Erie County reversed the pleas and remanded the case to the trial court. Read the decision here.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

The Delaware County Municipal Court apparently figured it could save a bunch of time by informing all the defendants in a group about the rights they were giving up by pleading guilty or no contest. One defendant in the audience on August 11, 2003, who was sitting behind the court railing was informed with everyone else that he may face deportation, exclusion from the U.S., or denied naturalization if he pleads guilty or no contest and he is not a U.S. citizen. This attempt at being efficient with the court's time backfired in one case. Mateo Zabala made a motion to withdraw his plea since he was not addressed personally about the warnings required by R.C. 2943.031. The trial judge denied the motion. The Fifth District Court of Appeals for Delaware County reversed the trial judge and said that a defendant must be personally addressed and the trial judge must make sure the defendant fully understands the immigration consequences of his plea before accepting the plea. The case was sent back to the trial court. State v. Zabala, 2011-Ohio-2947.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

The Fifth District Court of Appeals for Richland County just reversed guilty pleas made by a Richland County man. The pleas were not made knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently because the trial judge did not inform the defendant about postrelease control prior to accepting his pleas. Postrelease control is considered part of the sentence so the trial judge erred by failing to tell the defendant about postrelease control until after accepting his plea. Read the decision here.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private criminal defense lawyer. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

One thing a trial judge must tell a defendant who is pleading guilty or "no contest," is that the defendant has the right to have compulsory process to obtain witnesses in his favor at trial. Trial judges must strictly comply with the requirement to so inform a defendant because the right to compulsory process is a constitutionally protected right. A Lucas County judge failed to inform a defendant about this right and so the Sixth District Court of Appeals vacated the "no contest" plea and remanded the case to the trial court as you can read here.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private attorney. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

Ohio Criminal Rule 11 addresses a defendant's rights upon pleading guilty or "no contest." Criminal Rule 11(C)(2)(b) for felonies and 11(E) for misdemeanors state that a defendant must be informed of the effect of his or her guilty or "no contest" plea.

The Second District Court of Appeals of Montgomery County just reversed a guilty plea made in the Dayton Municipal Court because the trial judge failed to inform the defendant that his plea of guilty was a complete admission of his guilt. Read the decision in State v. King, 2011-Ohio-29, here.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private attorney. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

Ohio Revised Code Section 2943.031 addresses the problem of the non-citizen entering a plea in an Ohio court. The warning that must be given to a defendant is as follows: "If you are not a citizen of the United States you are hereby advised that conviction of the offense to which you are pleading guilty (or no contest) may have the consequences of deportation, exclusion from admission to the United States, or denial of naturalization pursuant to the laws of the United States."

The Second District Court of Appeals just reversed a trial judge who overruled a defendant's motion to withdraw his plea pursuant to 2943.031(D). The problem was that the trial judge overruled the motion without conducting a hearing to determine whether the plea should be vacated. It was undisputed that the defendant was not given the warning. But there are a few other factors to consider. Because no hearing was held, the Court of Appeals could not determine whether the judge erred in overruling the motion to withdraw the plea.

The Second District Court of Appeals remanded the case to the Springfield, Ohio, Common Pleas Judge for a hearing as you can read here.

If you are accused of a crime or have been convicted already, contact me if you can afford to hire a private attorney. Otherwise, contact your county or state public defender to see if they can help.

The Seventh District Court of Appeals reversed a guilty plea made in the Mahoning County Common Pleas Court because it was not made knowingly, voluntarily and intelligently as you can read by clicking here. Criminal Rule 11 requires certain things of the trial judge before a guilty plea can be accepted. Criminal Rule 11(C)(1)(c) states that judges must inform defendants of the following before their plea is accepted.
1. The defendant is waiving her right to a jury trial
2. To confront witnesses against her
3. To compulsory process for favorable witnesses
4. To require the State to prove their guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
5. And her privilege against compulsory self incrimination.
A trial judge in Mahoning County failed to comply with numbers three and four as listed above and so the Court of Appeals reversed the guilty plea and remanded the case back to the trial court.

After a defendant in Greene County (county court located in Xenia, Ohio) pleaded guilty to several counts of rape and gross sexual imposition, he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.  But the defendant was not informed that he faced mandatory prison time before he pleaded guilty.  Instead, he was informed that he would be eligible for community control sanctions if he was granted judicial release.  Since the defendant was not eligible for judicial release while serving time for the rape charges which carried mandatory prison time, Ohio's Second District Court of Appeals reversed the plea and sentence and remanded the case to the trial court as you can read by clicking here.

On remand, this defendant had his sentence cut in half as you can read here or here.

Another guilty plea reversed by Ohio's Second District Court of Appeals.  This time because the trial judge made a promise he could not fulfill.  The defendant pleaded guilty to trafficking in heroin in an amount equal to or greater than 250 grams.  This charge required that the defendant be sentenced to 10 years.  But the trial judge promised the defendant that he would be sentenced to no more than 7 years if he pleaded guilty.  He was sentenced to 7 years of mandatory prison time.  The Court of Appeals found that the guilty plea was void and remanded the case to the trial court.  Click here for the full decision.

On remand this defendant was sentenced to 6 years of NON-mandatory time.