State v. Burge

CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 30, 2026
Docket115282, 115563
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Burge (State v. Burge) 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
State v. Burge, (Ohio Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Burge, 2026-Ohio-1552.]

COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

STATE OF OHIO, :

Plaintiff-Appellee, : Nos. 115282 and 115563 v. :

KEVIN BURGE, :

Defendant-Appellant. :

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: April 30, 2026

Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Case No. CR-24-694462-A

Appearances:

Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Morgan Austin, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Eric M. Levy, for appellant.

KATHLEEN ANN KEOUGH, J.:

In this delayed appeal, defendant-appellant Kevin Burge appeals

from his convictions, sentence, and the trial court’s denial of his pro se, post-

sentence motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. For the following reasons, we affirm. In August 2024, a grand jury charged Burge in a 63-count indictment

pertaining to several incidents occurring between December 2023 and March 2024.

The offenses included multiple counts of theft, felonious assault, robbery, receiving

stolen property, improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle, falsification,

obstructing official business, and having weapons while under a disability. Many of

the counts included one- and three-year firearm specifications.

On February 24, 2025, the court held a pretrial at which the State

offered him a plea deal. Burge would plead guilty to 39 counts, including “several

amendments to the indictment, but . . . the agreed recommended range would be 14

to 18 years” prior to a Reagan Tokes Law tail. (Tr. 25-26.) After rejecting this plea,

Burge voiced his preference for a jury trial and asked for new counsel and a

continuance of the trial date. The court denied both oral motions, reasoning that

the “defendant and defense counsel have, in my estimation, worked very well

together throughout all of this time, and now that we’re nearing the trial and he

doesn’t like what he’s being told, he’s asking for a withdrawal of counsel.” (Tr. 32.)

The court convened for trial on March 3, 2025. The State placed the

prior plea offer on the record, and Burge again voiced his preference to proceed to a

jury trial rather than plead to a deal with a 14-to-18-year sentence. When offered

time to confer with his counsel again, Burge asked for a psychiatric reevaluation,

referring to an earlier investigation into his competency under which it was

determined that Burge was malingering. The court eventually adjourned with the

expectation that trial would begin later that afternoon. Later that day, the trial court went on the record and indicated that

the parties had spent several hours discussing further plea negotiations. Under the

newly proposed plea agreement, Burge would plead guilty to 39 counts, two one-

year firearm specifications, and one three-year firearm specification. The State

explained that it modified several of the firearm specifications so that the new

agreement’s ten-year “floor” was possible but clarified that this minimum did not

include the indefinite sentence pursuant to the Reagan Tokes Law. The State

explained that “by agreement of the parties, the parties agree to a floor of a ten-year

prison sentence, with the understanding that the State will argue for a higher

sentence, and that the Court may impose any legal sentence. But there is an

agreement as to a floor of ten years on this plea offer.” (Tr. 60.) Before proceeding

with the Crim.R. 11 colloquy, the court confirmed with Burge that he understood

that he was required to serve the two failure-to-comply charges consecutively. Burge

responded in the affirmative.

The trial court engaged Burge in a comprehensive Crim.R. 11

colloquy. The trial court discussed the maximum penalty associated with each of

the 39 charges within the plea. After nearly every count, the trial court asked Burge

whether he understood, and Burge answered affirmatively on all occasions. When

discussing the failure-to-comply charges, the court confirmed that Burge

understood the meaning of “mandatory” and “consecutively.” (Tr. 75.) During the

colloquy, the court asked Burge whether he understood that “this Court would still

have the authority to sentence you to prison for longer than that ten-year period. Do you understand that?” and Burge agreed. (Tr. 103.) Burge ultimately pleaded guilty

pursuant to the plea agreement.

Following his plea hearing, Burge, pro se, filed a deluge of motions

including two “motion[s] to suppress,” two “motion[s] to dismiss,” two “motion[s]

for exclusion,” and a “motion to withdraw plea deal.” Relevant to this appeal, the

filings generally alleged that Burge felt “threatened” and “coerced” into taking his

plea, that he was promised a “minimum” sentence and was dissatisfied with his

counsel, and felt that the trial court should have granted his oral motion for new

counsel instead of proceeding to the change-of-plea hearing.

The next week, the parties convened again. The court addressed all

of Burge’s pro se motions, stating that “the [c]ourt did review those and will note

that the defendant is requesting to withdraw those pro se motions.” (Tr. 138.) The

State presented the contents of its sentencing memorandum and asked that the trial

court impose a sentence greater than the ten-year minimum. Two of Burge’s

relatives addressed the court as mitigation witnesses, and then Burge’s counsel

addressed the court and specifically addressed the tenuous relationship with his

client.

Ultimately, Your Honor, despite everything we have been through, and our disagreements, and we expect disagreements at times because not everyone agrees with the facts that are presented, but when you have a matter like this with these number of counts, Your Honor, arguments are going to happen, there’s going to be disagreements about certain acts at certain times on certain days.

But ultimately we got to a point on March 3rd, which was our, in fact, trial date, that we could possibly resolve this. And, of course, it started with an offer from the State, which I thought was reasonable, which was, you know, plead to these 39 counts with an agreed range of 14 to 18 years. Obviously that offer was on the table approximately two weeks. I discussed that matter over those two weeks with Mr. Burge. Obviously, he wanted to ultimately make a counteroffer because he wanted to obviously minimize his exposure or try to minimize his exposure with another agreement. And he himself had posed could we have an agreement of ten years. That’s how we got to this point.

Now, of course, I understand, we all understand that yes, the State would agree to that minimum bottom number of years but would not agree to a top end. I use this as a point of reference to the Court as to where we were in negotiations and where we are now.

(Tr. 190-192.) Burge briefly addressed the court and offered his apologies and also

remarked that he wished for less prison time so that he could see his grandparents.

The trial court once again asked if Burge was withdrawing all of the pro se motions

that had been filed after the change-of-plea hearing to which Burge and his attorney

both responded affirmatively. Burge was sentenced to 18 years with a Reagan Tokes

tail, resulting in a possible 22-year indefinite sentence.

Burge appealed, assigning the following errors for our review:

1.

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State v. Burge, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-burge-ohioctapp-2026.