Cleveland v. Martin

2023 Ohio 448
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 16, 2023
Docket111495
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2023 Ohio 448 (Cleveland v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cleveland v. Martin, 2023 Ohio 448 (Ohio Ct. App. 2023).

Opinion

[Cite as Cleveland v. Martin, 2023-Ohio-448.]

COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

CITY OF CLEVELAND, :

Plaintiff-Appellee, : No. 111495 v. :

DAISELLE A. MARTIN, :

Defendant-Appellant. :

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

JUDGMENT: VACATED AND REMANDED RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: February 16, 2023

Criminal Appeal from the Cleveland Municipal Court Case No. 2021-CRB-008265

Appearances:

Mark Griffin, City of Cleveland Director of Law, and Susan M. Oates, Assistant City Prosecutor, for appellee.

Michael P. Maloney, for appellant.

MICHAEL JOHN RYAN, J.:

Defendant-appellant, Daiselle Martin, appeals her conviction, which

was rendered after pleading guilty to attempted telecommunications harassment, a

second-degree misdemeanor. Finding merit to her appeal, we vacate her guilty plea.

I. Procedural History In 2022, Martin was charged in Cleveland Municipal Court with

aggravated menacing, in violation of Cleveland Codified Ordinances 621.06 and

telecommunications harassment, in violation of Cleveland Codified Ordinances

621.10. On December 7, 2021, Martin pleaded guilty to one count of attempted

telephone harassment. On February 2, 2022, Martin filed a presentence motion to

withdraw her guilty plea, which the trial court granted. The court set the case for

trial. On the day of trial and after trial had commenced, Martin decided to change

her plea again. She pleaded guilty to attempted telecommunications harassment

and the city dismissed the aggravated menacing charge. The trial court sentenced

Martin to a suspended jail sentence and five years of probation.

Martin appealed her conviction and raises the following assignment of

error for our review:

Appellant’s plea was not knowingly and intelligently made.

II. Law and Analysis

In her sole assignment of error, Martin contends that her guilty plea

was not knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily made. A defendant’s plea in a

criminal case must be made “knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily” to be

constitutional under the United States and Ohio Constitutions. State v. Engle, 74

Ohio St.3d 525, 527, 660 N.E.2d 450 (1996). A plea that is not knowingly,

intelligently, and voluntarily made is invalid. State v. Bishop, 156 Ohio St.3d 156,

2018-Ohio-5132, 124 N.E.3d 766, ¶ 10. Crim.R. 11, which outlines the procedures

trial courts are to follow when accepting pleas, ‘“ensures an adequate record on review by requiring the trial court to personally inform the defendant of his [or her]

rights and the consequences of his [or her] plea and determine if the plea is

understandingly and voluntarily made.”’ State v. Dangler, 162 Ohio St.3d 1, 2020-

Ohio-2765, 164 N.E.3d 286, ¶ 11, quoting State v. Stone, 43 Ohio St.2d 163, 168, 331

N.E.2d 411 (1975). This court reviews de novo whether the trial court accepted a

plea in compliance with Crim.R. 11. State v. Lunder, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga No. 101223,

2014-Ohio-5341, ¶ 22.

A. Trial court was not obligated to advise Martin she was pleading guilty to an enhanceable offense

We first address Martin’s argument that her plea was not knowingly,

intelligently, and voluntarily made because the trial court did not inform her that

she was pleading guilty to an enhanceable offense, i.e., an offense that if committed

again would be charged as a higher degree offense. See Cleveland Codified

Ordinances 621.10(c) (“A violation of division (A) * * * of this section is a

misdemeanor of the first degree on a first offense and a felony of the fifth degree on

each subsequent offense.”).

In Conneaut v. Coleman, 11th Dist. Ashtabula No. 2010-A-0062, 2011-

Ohio-5099, the Eleventh Appellate District held that a trial court is not obligated to

advise a defendant who enters a plea to a petty misdemeanor that the convictions

that eventuate from that plea could be used to enhance a future charge of the same

crime from a misdemeanor to a felony. Id. at ¶ 10. We agree with the reasoning in

Coleman; the trial court in this case was not obligated to inform Martin that a possible effect of her plea to misdemeanor attempted telephone harassment was a

sentence enhancement for a future telephone harassment charge. “A trial court

judge should not be required to anticipate recidivist behavior by a defendant who

enters a guilty plea in that court.” State v. Southers, 4th Dist. Pickaway No. 88 CA

10, 1988 Ohio App. LEXIS 4648, 4 (Nov. 23, 1988).1

B. Compliance with Crim.R. 11

Martin contends the trial court erred in failing to comply with

Crim.R. 11(C), but Martin was charged with a petty offense as defined in

Crim.R. 2(D); therefore, Crim.R. 11(E) applied to her plea hearing.2 Crim.R. 11(E)

provides that in misdemeanor cases involving petty offenses, the trial court shall not

accept a guilty plea “without first addressing the defendant personally and

informing the defendant of the effect of the pleas of guilty, no contest, and not guilty

and determining that the defendant is making the plea voluntarily.” A trial court

advises a defendant of the “effect the plea” when the court advises the defendant of

1 We do note that at the change-of-plea hearing the trial court incorrectly stated that telephone harassment was not an enhanceable offense:

I will dismiss, in its entirety, the aggravated menacing, which does carry with it, ma’am, what’s called enhanced and effect. [sic] So, in the same way that once you have a domestic violence conviction, if there was a second domestic violence it would become a felony and the penalties would be enhanced or increased. That is the same with the aggravated menacing. As it relates to the telephone harassment, that is not the case.

2 Martin pleaded guilty to a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable to up to 90 days in jail. Misdemeanors having a penalty of six months or less are considered “petty offenses.” Crim.R. 2(D). the appropriate language under Crim.R. 11(B). State v. Jones, 116 Ohio St.3d 211,

2007-Ohio-6093, 877 N.E.2d 677, paragraph two of the syllabus; see also Cleveland

v. Jaber, 8th Dist. Cuyahoga Nos. 103194 and 103195, 2016-Ohio-1542, ¶ 24-25.

Crim.R. 11(B)(1) states, “[T]he plea of guilty is a complete admission of the

defendant’s guilt.” Therefore, the trial court was obligated to inform Martin that her

guilty plea was a complete admission of guilt.

The city contends that, based on the totality of the circumstances, the

trial court substantially complied with Crim.R. 11(E) in accepting Martin’s guilty

plea.

“When a criminal defendant seeks to have his [or her] conviction

reversed on appeal, the traditional rule is that [the defendant] must establish that

an error occurred in the trial-court proceedings and that he [or she] was prejudiced

by that error.” Dangler, 162 Ohio St.3d 1, 2020-Ohio-2765, 164 N.E.3d 286, at

¶ 13. “When a trial court fails to explain the constitutional rights that a defendant

waives by pleading guilty or no contest, we presume that the plea was entered

involuntarily and unknowingly, and no showing of prejudice is required.” Id. at

¶ 14. “When a trial court fails to fully cover other ‘nonconstitutional’ aspects of the

plea colloquy, a defendant must affirmatively show prejudice to invalidate a

plea.” Id. at ¶ 15.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2023 Ohio 448, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-v-martin-ohioctapp-2023.