State v. Casshie

2022 Ohio 4403
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided December 8, 2022·No. 111270·Published

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO

EIGHTH APPELLATE DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA

STATE OF OHIO, :

Plaintiff-Appellee, :

No. 111270

v. :

ADAM CASSHIE, :

Defendant-Appellant. :

JOURNAL ENTRY AND OPINION

JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED

RELEASED AND JOURNALIZED: December 8, 2022

Criminal Appeal from the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Case No. CR-18-633548-A

Appearances:

Michael C. O’Malley, Cuyahoga County Prosecuting Attorney, and Callista Plemel, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Cullen Sweeney, Cuyahoga County Public Defender, and Francis Cavallo, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.

ANITA LASTER MAYS, P.J.:

Defendant-appellant Adam Casshie (“Casshie”) appeals his guilty plea and the trial court’s denial of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. He also appeals the trial court’s failure to grant him jail-time credit. We affirm. I. Facts and Procedural History Casshie was indicted on eight counts, including charges for rape, gross sexual imposition, and kidnapping against two minors, on November 6, 2018, from incidences that took place on July 27, 2018. All charges included a sexually violent predator specification. Casshie moved to California later that year, and a capias was issued in November. According to the record, Casshie was arrested in California in December 2018 for a theft that occurred in California in November 2018. He was arrested again in August 2019 in California on another charge. He was given mental health evaluations and pleaded guilty to the charges in California. He was given jail-time credit for his time served in California for the California charges. Casshie was then extradited from California to Ohio on February 23, 2020. Casshie was declared competent to stand trial and moved the trial court to allow him to represent himself at trial. On July 22, 2021, Casshie signed a written waiver of counsel where he stipulated to the court that his waiver was signed knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. The trial court warned Casshie about the pitfalls and shortcomings of representing himself. However, the trial court granted Casshie’s motion to proceed pro se, but also assigned a stand-by attorney to assist him if needed. Casshie participated in multiple pretrial hearings that were set to ensure that Casshie received all discovery materials with ample time to review.

On September 1, 2021, the trial court set Casshie’s trial for December 13, 2021. On October 25, 2021, Casshie requested a continuance of his trial date so that he could hire a private investigator. The trial court denied his request, reminding him that he had several weeks to prepare for his trial. On November 16, 2021, Casshie again requested a continuance to allow his private investigator to investigate his case. Casshie informed the court that his private investigator had only began working for him the previous day. The trial court, again, denied Casshie’s motion reminding him that he had been warned about the issues with representing himself.

On December 9, 2021, four days before trial, Casshie pleaded guilty to two counts of rape, first-degree felonies, in violation of R.C. 2907.02(A)(2). In exchange for Casshie’s guilty plea, the state nolled the associated sexually violent predator specifications and the remaining charges and specifications. At the plea hearing, Casshie indicated to the court that he did not want to go to trial and instead plead guilty. (Tr. 195.) After amending the charges, the trial court informed Casshie that he had 655 days of jail-time credit.

During the plea hearing, the trial court asked Casshie if anyone threatened or forced him to enter his plea of guilty. (Tr. 205.) Casshie replied “no, your honor.” (Tr. 206.) The trial court asked Casshie if anyone had made promises to him if he entered the plea of guilty or promised him a specific sentence. Casshie replied, “no.” (Tr. 206.) The trial court then asked Casshie if he was satisfied with his standby counsel, and Casshie replied, “yes.” Id. The trial court inquired as to whether Casshie understood his constitutional right that he was presumed innocent and that by entering a plea of guilty, was admitting the truth of the facts and his full guilt. (Tr. 207.) Casshie replied, “no.” (Tr. 208.) The trial court then stated that the case would go to trial. Casshie stated, “I’m willing to take a confession for my own benefit.” (Tr. 208-209.) The trial court again asked Casshie if he understood that by pleading guilty, he was admitting to the truth of the facts and his full guilt. Casshie stated, “yes, your honor.” Id.

The trial court repeated the same question again to ensure that Casshie understood, and Casshie again replied in the affirmative. The trial court asked Casshie if he understood his right to a jury trial or a bench trial and that by entering a guilty plea, he was waiving that right. Casshie stated that he understood. (Tr. 210.) The trial court continued to fully comply with Crim.R. 11, (Tr. 210-212.) Casshie responded to each question that he understood and told the court that he was satisfied that the trial court complied with the requirements of Crim.R. 11. The trial court scheduled the sentencing hearing for January 24, 2022.

On December 15, 2021, Casshie filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea. In Casshie’s motion, he argued that he felt that his plea was the result of improper inducement by his original counsel, who was also his standby counsel.

Casshie did not state that counsel convinced him to enter the plea nor did he state that counsel made any promises to him. However, he stated that counsel made certain suggestions that persuaded Casshie to plead guilty.

The trial court conducted a hearing on Casshie’s motion. The trial court asked Casshie to state clearly why he wanted to withdraw his guilty plea. Casshie stated:

Okay. I felt that I should take a plea because I was led to believe —

wasn’t promised, you already asked me so I didn’t lie — I was never promised, but I was led to believe something would happen. And when I was led to believe this would happen, it came from a source that also was against me like I said through e-mails.

I never — As representation I never gave permission to counteract a counterplea. This was done without my authority. I never said I wanted that plea given. And it was also said that I’m afraid this guy is going to get an appeal — which I can’t — out of ineffective assistance because I represented myself anyway. It seemed like it was just get this guy to plea because I’m afraid of this. So it seemed like they were working together so I felt like I was being worked together on every angle.

And concerning the one — It has to do with the withdraw plea but it has to be understood the State filed a motion to like for me to exclude to mention prostitution. The angle only came from me and I only spoke to one certain person. So this information was divulged.

(Tr. 225-226.)

Casshie also told the court that he believed he had 1,125 days in jail-

time credit and that, if he pleaded guilty, he would get the minimum sentence and be able to go home with no jail time. The trial court asked Casshie if the trial court stated any of those conditions to him. He replied, “no.” After asking the state for a reply to his allegations, the trial court stated the standard for which Casshie would be allowed to withdraw his plea. The trial court denied Casshie’s motion.

On January 24, 2021, the trial court sentenced Casshie to seven years in prison, and he filed this appeal assigning four errors for our review:

I. The trial court erred in failing to grant appellant a reasonable continuance to secure a full independent investigation while acting in a pro se capacity, denying him fundamental due process under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments as well as the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article 1, Section 10 of the Ohio Constitution;

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