State v. Mays

884 N.E.2d 607, 174 Ohio App. 3d 681
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 17, 2008
DocketNo. 89362
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 884 N.E.2d 607 (State v. Mays) 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. Mays, 884 N.E.2d 607, 174 Ohio App. 3d 681 (Ohio Ct. App. 2008).

Opinions

Christine T. McMonagle, Judge.

{¶ 1} In 2003, after a jury trial, defendant-appellant, Daniela Mays, was convicted of the murder and felonious assault of a 77-year-old man that she befriended and then proceeded to poison. On appeal, due to the trial court’s erroneous jury instructions, this court reversed her convictions and ordered a new trial. State v. Mays, 161 Ohio App.3d 175, 2005-Ohio-2609, 829 N.E.2d 773.

{¶ 2} Rather than face retrial, on February 24, 2006, Mays entered a plea of guilty to one count each of involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault. The trial court sentenced her to an agreed-upon sentence of eight years on each count, to be served concurrently.

{¶ 3} On December 27, 2006, ten months after she was sentenced, Mays filed a motion to withdraw her plea. The trial court denied her motion without a hearing. Mays now appeals from the trial court’s order denying her motion to withdraw her plea. She claims that the trial court erred in denying her motion and, further, that she was at least entitled to a hearing on her motion. We find Mays’s argument regarding the necessity of a hearing persuasive and, accordingly, reverse and remand.

{¶ 4} Pursuant to Crim.R. 32.1, a trial court may permit a defendant to withdraw her guilty plea after sentence has been imposed in order to correct a manifest injustice. State v. Bush, 96 Ohio St.3d 235, 2002-Ohio-3993, 773 N.E.2d 522; State v. Smith (1977), 49 Ohio St.2d 261, 3 O.O.3d 402, 361 N.E.2d 1324. The manifest-injustice standard requires a showing of “extraordinary” circumstances, and the defendant bears the burden of showing the existence of a manifest injustice. Smith at 264, 3 O.O.3d 402, 361 N.E.2d 1324. The heavy standard is meant to avoid the possibility of a defendant pleading guilty to test the weight of potential punishment and later withdrawing the plea if the sentence [684]*684was unexpectedly severe. State v. Makupson, Cuyahoga App. No. 89013, 2007-Ohio-5329, 2007 WL 2894231, at ¶ 20, fn. 7, citing State v. Caraballo (1985), 17 Ohio St.3d 66, 67, 17 OBR 132, 477 N.E.2d 627.

{¶ 5} A motion to withdraw a guilty plea under Crim.R. 32.1 is addressed to the discretion of the trial court, and a reviewing court will not interfere with that decision absent an abuse of discretion. Smith at paragraph two of the syllabus. The good faith, credibility, and weight of the movant’s assertions in support of the motion are matters to be resolved by the trial court. Id. The timeliness of the motion is a factor to consider in weighing credibility, as “an undue delay between the occurrence of the alleged cause for withdrawal [of a guilty plea] and the filing of the motion is a factor adversely affecting the credibility of the movant and militating against the granting of the motion.” Id. at 264, 3 O.O.3d 402, 361 N.E.2d 1324.

{¶ 6} A trial court need not hold an evidentiary hearing on a postsentence motion to withdraw a guilty plea if the record indicates the movant is not entitled to relief and the movant has failed to submit evidentiary documents sufficient to demonstrate a manifest injustice. State v. Russ, Cuyahoga App. No. 81580, 2003-Ohio-1001, 2003 WL 759664, at ¶ 12. But a hearing on a postsentence motion to withdraw a plea is required if the facts alleged by the defendant and accepted as true would require the court to permit that plea to be withdrawn. State v. Williams, Cuyahoga App. No. 88737, 2007-Ohio-5073, 2007 WL 2793345, at ¶ 34, citing State v. Hamed (1989), 63 Ohio App.3d 5, 7, 577 N.E.2d 1111.

{¶ 7} In her motion to withdraw her plea, Mays alleged that she had been denied effective assistance of counsel and her guilty plea had not been knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently made because it was induced by her lawyer’s erroneous advice. Specifically, Mays alleged that her lawyer told her that although she would be sentenced to an agreed-upon sentence of eight years, she would receive three days’ credit on her prison term for every day she had spent in jail prior to the first trial and after remand for the second trial, and that she would be eligible for judicial release or parole within a year after being sentenced. Mays asserted that she would not have pleaded guilty but for these representations. Mays alleged that she finally learned from her prison counselor in October 2006 that three-for-one jail-time credit applies only when calculating time relating to when a defendant must be brought to trial under Ohio’s speedy-trial statute, and that she would not be eligible for any three-for-one credit toward her sentence. Mays asserted that she was “lied to, misled, and duped into pleading guilty based upon false and misleading legal advice” from her lawyer and, therefore, she sought to withdraw her plea.

[685]*685 {¶ 8} Ineffective assistance of counsel is a proper basis for seeking postsentence withdrawal of a guilty plea. State v. Dalton, 153 Ohio App.3d 286, 2003-Ohio-3813, 793 N.E.2d 509, at ¶ 18; Hamed, 63 Ohio App.3d at 8, 577 N.E.2d 1111. Moreover, a guilty plea is not voluntary if it is the result of ineffective assistance of counsel. State v. Banks, 9th Dist. No. 01CA007958, 2002-Ohio-4858, 2002 WL 31059911, at ¶ 16.

{¶ 9} A claim of ineffective assistance of counsel requires a showing that the lawyer’s conduct fell below professional standards and that the defendant was prejudiced as a result. Strickland v. Washington (1984), 466 U.S. 668, 687, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674; State v. Johnson (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 95, 108, 723 N.E.2d 1054. When a defendant claims ineffective assistance after entering a guilty plea, she must also show that the ineffective assistance precluded her from entering the plea knowingly and voluntarily. State v. Doak, 7th Dist. Nos. 03 CO 15 and 03 CO 31, 2004-Ohio-1548, 2004 WL 614851, at ¶ 55; State v. Sopjack (Dec. 15, 1995), 11th Dist. No. 93-G-1826, 1995 WL 869968.

{¶ 10} A lawyer’s mistaken prediction about the likelihood of a particular outcome after correctly advising the client of the legal possibilities is insufficient to demonstrate ineffective assistance of counsel. State v. Creary, Cuyahoga App. No. 82767, 2004-Ohio-858, 2004 WL 351878, at ¶ 10, citing United States v. Sweeney (C.A.2, 1989), 878 F.2d 68, 70. See also Williams, 2007-Ohio-5073, 2007 WL 2793345, at ¶ 34. Mays’s motion, however, “claims that [her] lawyer effectively misinformed [her] concerning the possibilities legally available, rather than simply misadvising [her] about the likelihood of a particular outcome.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
884 N.E.2d 607, 174 Ohio App. 3d 681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mays-ohioctapp-2008.