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

A Greene County defendant was sentenced to 20 years in prison for drug crimes he committed. His Dayton criminal defense lawyer tried to make a deal with a Greene County Assistant Prosecutor early on and the criminal defense lawyer is adamant that the prosecutor offered a 4 year sentence for the defendant's cooperation in helping police catch other drug dealers. The prosecutor denies ever promising a 4 year prison term. She says she initially promised a sentence of 4 to 10 years for the defendant's cooperation. Later she offered a flat 8 year prison term. Thing is, the defense never accepted the State's offer of 4 to 10 or 8. The Dayton criminal defense lawyer just kept insisting that the prosecutor promised a 4 year prison sentence. Because the defense never agreed to any offer the prosecutor admits to making (or that the defense had proof of) there was never any plea bargain and the Greene County trial judge sentenced him to 20 years. In the end the State says the defendant did not "cooperate" enough as required. 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.

A Cuyahoga County Judge abused their discretion when they refused to accept a plea agreement reached by the Defendant and the State. Although trial judges may use their discretion to accept or refuse plea agreements, they abuse their discretion by rejecting a plea agreement based on a blanket policy they created. For example, in this case the trial judge had a blanket policy of refusing to accept plea agreements in any case where a trial date has already been set. It must go something like, "sorry we already put a date on the calender for trial and so I won't accept the plea agreement reached by the State and Defendant which is beneficial to both parties and would save the taxpayers thousands of dollars. Nope, we have the trial date so we have to have a trial based on my policy. After all, I am the Judge." Read the Court of Appeals decision here.

Plea bargains have been reached in Ohio courts forever. And defendants have not been complaining. What if you were facing a felony of the second degree and the State was willing to let you plead to an amended charge which was a felony of the fifth degree? Would you take the deal? Maybe. There are several factors for you and your lawyer to consider. But in the case of State v. Rohrbaugh, the Third District Court of Appeals took it upon itself to reverse a case where the State amended a charge and allowed the defendant to plead to the amended charge. The Third District pointed out that the Ohio Constitution and Criminal Rule 7 both require an indictment in a felony case. And Rule 7(D) states you cannot amend the crime charged if a change is made to the name or identity of the crime. So when the Third District Court of Appeals saw that the State amended a charge to which the defendant pled - and no waiver of the defendant's right to an indictment was made - there was an "obvious defect" that required reversal. But the Ohio Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Court of Appeals and held that "a defendant may plead guilty to an indictment that was amended to change the name or identity of the charged crime when the defendant is represented by counsel, has bargained for the amendment, and is not prejudiced by the change." Read the Third District Court of Appeals decision here, or the Ohio Supreme Court decision here.