State v. Prater

2026 Ohio 438
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 11, 2026
Docket25-COA-008
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2026 Ohio 438 (State v. Prater) 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. Prater, 2026 Ohio 438 (Ohio Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Prater, 2026-Ohio-438.]

COURT OF APPEALS ASHLAND COUNTY, OHIO FIFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

STATE OF OHIO Case No. 25-COA-008

Plaintiff - Appellee Opinion and Judgment Entry

-vs- Appeal from the Ashland County Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 24-CRI-226 ROBERT PRATER Judgment: Affirmed Defendant - Appellant Date of Judgment Entry: February 11, 2026

BEFORE: Andrew J. King, William B. Hoffman, Kevin W. Popham, Appellate Judges

APPEARANCES: Christopher R. Tunnell, Ashland County Prosecuting Attorney, James B. Reese, III, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee; Brian A. Smith, Brian Smith Law Firm, LLC for Defendant-Appellant OPINION

Hoffman, J.

{¶1} Defendant-appellant Robert Prater appeals the judgment entered by the

Ashland County Common Pleas Court convicting him following jury trial of complicity

(R.C. 2923.03(A)(2)) to: aggravated burglary (R.C. 2911.11(A)(1)), robbery (R.C.

2911.02(A)(2)), safecracking (R.C. 2911.31(A)), theft of drugs (R.C. 2913.02(A)(1)),

tampering with drugs (R.C. 2925.24(B)), and two counts of failure to comply with the order

or signal of a police officer (R.C. 2921.331(B)); convicting him of six counts of aggravated

possession of drugs (R.C. 2925.11(A)); and sentencing him to an aggregate term of

incarceration of sixteen years and 108 months to twenty-one years and 108 months.

Plaintiff-appellee is the State of Ohio.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE

{¶2} On July 24, 2024, five men, including Appellant, traveled from Dayton, Ohio,

to Ashland, Ohio, with plans to rob the Rite Aid store in Ashland. The Rite Aid in Ashland

had previously received an alert from the company concerning store robberies. Around

7:15 p.m., two men, wearing surgical masks, neither of whom were Appellant, entered

the store and moved quickly to the pharmacy area in the back. Having seen the alert, an

employee of the store suspected the men planned to rob the store, and she called 911.

Appellant also entered the store and began to talk to that same employee, asking how

she was doing.

{¶3} Meanwhile, the other two men entered the employee-only area of the

pharmacy. One man jumped over the counter and the other man pushed through a door,

knocking over an employee of the pharmacy. One of the men held his finger in the pocket of his hoodie to simulate a firearm, while the men forced the pharmacist to open the safe.

The men quickly took drugs from the safe and placed them in a plastic bag.

{¶4} When Appellant realized the employee in the front of the store was calling

the police, he signaled the two men in the pharmacy to run. All three men ran out of the

store and jumped in the waiting vehicle.

{¶5} The vehicle, which was not driven by Appellant, led police on a high-speed

chase for seventy-five miles, reaching speeds as high as 142 mph and avoiding spike

strips laid by police to disable the vehicle. The suspects threw empty Rite Aid pill bottles

out of the car windows during the chase, putting the pills in a bag inside their vehicle. The

chase ended on Interstate 270 in the Columbus area, when the suspect’s vehicle ran out

of gas. Several of the men, including Appellant, jumped out of the car and fled on foot,

but were apprehended by police.

{¶6} Appellant was indicted by the Ashland County Grand Jury with complicity to

aggravated burglary, robbery, safecracking, theft of drugs, tampering with drugs, and two

counts of failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer. Appellant was also

indicted for six counts of aggravated possession of drugs.

{¶7} The case proceeded to jury trial in the Ashland County Common Pleas

Court. The jury found Appellant guilty of all counts, and the trial court convicted Appellant

upon the jury’s verdict. The trial court found the convictions of complicity to aggravated

burglary1, robbery, and theft of drugs merged, and the State elected to have Appellant

1Although the trial court’s judgment entry of conviction and sentencing states Appellant was convicted of

aggravated robbery in Count One the trial court cites the statute for aggravated burglary, and the indictment, the verdict form, and judgment confirming the jury’s verdict indicate Appellant was charged with and convicted of aggravated burglary in Count One. Likewise, the State’s brief recites Appellant was convicted of aggravated robbery, but the State cites the statute for aggravated burglary in its argument. sentenced for aggravated burglary. The trial court found the two counts of failure to

comply with the order of signal of a police officer merged. The trial court imposed a

sentence of incarceration of ten to fifteen years for aggravated burglary, twelve months

for safecracking, twenty-four months for tampering with drugs, thirty-six months for failure

to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, two to three years on each of three

counts of aggravated possession of drugs, and twelve months on each of the remaining

three counts of aggravated possession of drugs, for an aggregate term of incarceration

of twenty-five to thirty years.

{¶8} It is from the April 15, 2025, judgment of conviction and sentence Appellant

prosecutes his appeal, assigning as error:

I. APPELLANT’S CONVICTIONS ON COUNTS ONE AND SIX OF

THE INDICTMENT, COMPLICITY TO COMMIT AGGRAVATED

BURGLARY AND COMPLICITY TO COMMIT FAILURE TO COMPLY

WITH AN ORDER OR SIGNAL OF A POLICE OFFICER, WERE NOT

SUPPORTED BY SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE.

II. APPELLANT’S CONVICTIONS WERE AGAINST THE

MANIFEST WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE.

III. THE FAILURE OF APPELLANT’S TRIAL COUNSEL TO

OBJECT TO APPELLANT’S SENTENCE AS GROSSLY

DISPROPORTIONATE TO THE OFFENSES OR TO THAT OF HIS

CODEFENDANTS, AND A VIOLATION OF APPELLANT’S RIGHT

AGAINST CRUEL AND UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT UNDER THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES

CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE I, SECTION 9 OF THE OHIO

CONSTITUTION, CONSTITUTED INEFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF

COUNSEL, IN VIOLATION OF APPELLANT’S RIGHT TO COUNSEL

UNDER THE SIXTH AND FOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE

UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE I, SECTION 10 OF THE

OHIO CONSTITUTION.

IV. THE TRIAL COURT’S SENTENCE OF APPELLANT, WITH

RESPECT TO COUNTS ONE AND SIX, WAS CONTRARY TO LAW AND

CONSTITUTED PLAIN ERROR, AS IT WAS GROSSLY

DISPROPORTIONATE TO BOTH THE OFFENSES AND THE TRIAL

COURT’S SENTENCES OF APPELLANT’S CODEFENDANTS, IN

VIOLATION OF APPELLANT’S RIGHT AGAINST CRUEL AND UNUSUAL

PUNISHMENT UNDER THE EIGHTH AND FOURTEENTH

AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND

ARTICLE I, SECTION 9 OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION.

V. THE TRIAL COURT’S IMPOSITION OF CONSECUTIVE

SENTENCES ON APPELLANT WAS CONTRARY TO LAW AND

CONSTITUTED PLAIN ERROR, WHERE THE TRIAL COURT DID NOT

MAKE THE REQUIRED FINDINGS TO IMPOSE CONSECUTIVE

SENTENCES UNDER R.C. 2929.14(C)(4), EITHER AT APPELLANT’S

SENTENCING HEARING OR IN THE TRIAL COURT’S SENTENCING

ENTRY. I.

{¶9} In his first assignment of error, Appellant argues the evidence was

insufficient to convict him of complicity to aggravated burglary and failure to comply with

the order or signal of a police officer.

{¶10} An appellate court's function when reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence

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Related

State v. Rogers
2026 Ohio 1024 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2026)

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Bluebook (online)
2026 Ohio 438, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-prater-ohioctapp-2026.