State v. Warren

2024 Ohio 1072
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 22, 2024
DocketL-23-1081
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 2024 Ohio 1072 (State v. Warren) 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. Warren, 2024 Ohio 1072 (Ohio Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Warren, 2024-Ohio-1072.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT LUCAS COUNTY

State of Ohio Court of Appeals No. L-23-1081

Appellee Trial Court No. CR0202201109

v.

Adante Warren DECISION AND JUDGMENT

Appellant Decided: March 22, 2024

*****

Julia R. Bates, Lucas County Prosecuting Attorney, and Lorrie J. Rendle, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.

Lawrence A. Gold, for appellant.

SULEK, J.

{¶ 1} Appellant, Adante Warren, appeals from the February 28, 2023 judgment of

the Lucas County Court of Common Pleas denying his pre-sentence motion to withdraw

his guilty plea. For the reasons that follow, the trial court's judgment is affirmed.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

{¶ 2} On January 25, 2022, the Lucas County Grand Jury indicted Warren on one

count of aggravated burglary in violation of R.C. 2911.11(A)(1) and (B), a felony of the

first degree (count one); one count of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A)(1)

and (D) (count two); and one count of disrupting public services in violation of R.C. 2909.04(A)(1) and (C) (count three). On February 8, 2022, Warren, represented by

attorney Jerome Phillips, entered a plea of not guilty to all of the charges.

{¶ 3} On September 6, 2022, nearly seven months later and following several

continuances, Warren changed his plea, pleading guilty to the following lesser-included

offenses: as to count one, burglary in violation of R.C. 2911(A)(2), a felony of the second

degree; and as to count two, attempted felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2923.02(A)

and (A)(1), a felony of the second degree.

{¶ 4} Before accepting Warren’s plea, the trial court engaged in a Crim.R. 11 plea

colloquy. During the colloquy, among other things, Warren testified that he had not been

promised anything to enter into the plea other than the state’s agreement to amend the

first and second counts of the indictment, he had enough time to consult with attorney

Phillips, and that he had committed the criminal conduct alleged in the amended counts

one and two. The trial court also explained the range of sentencing that could be

imposed, including the possibility of community control instead of a prison term. The

court accepted Warren’s plea, ordered a presentence investigation and report, and

scheduled a sentencing hearing for October 20, 2022.

{¶ 5} On September 28, 2022, Warren filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea

along with a motion to substitute counsel from Phillips to attorney Owen Kalis. In

support of his motion to withdraw his guilty plea, Warren, through Kalis, asserted

ineffective assistance of counsel. Specifically, Warren claimed that Phillips promised

Warren that if he pled guilty, Warren would receive no prison time. Warren argued this

advice was incorrect because Warren pled guilty to a charge for which prison time was

2. mandatory. Further, Warren alleged that Phillips threatened to withdraw as Warren’s

attorney if Warren refused to plead guilty, and Phillips had not advised Warren of

potential defenses, including a Fourth Amendment challenge to the state’s evidence.

{¶ 6} The trial court held a hearing on Warren’s motion beginning on October 6,

2022. On that date, both Warren and Phillips testified.

{¶ 7} Warren stated that Phillips had only briefly reviewed discovery with him and

that they never discussed potential defenses. He testified that Phillips presented the

proposed plea deal only ten to fifteen minutes before the September 6th plea hearing,

leaving him little time to make his decision. Warren also maintained that Phillips

threatened to withdraw as counsel if he rejected the state’s plea offer. He stated Phillips

gave Warren a 99% guarantee that Warren would not receive prison time if he agreed to

the proposed plea deal. Warren decided to go through with the plea agreement because,

as a 27-year-old, he did not want prison time; however, he declared that his answers to

the plea colloquy on September 6 had not been truthful, and he had only answered as he

had been instructed by Phillips to do so.

{¶ 8} According to Phillips, he met with Warren on several occasions to discuss

the case. During their meetings, Phillips provided Warren with all of the discovery,

explained the legal issues in the case, and estimated the likelihood of Warren’s success at

trial. Phillips met with the trial judge and the prosecutor and negotiated a plea agreement

in which Warren would be subject to community control and not serve prison time.

Warren agreed to the terms, executed the papers, and entered the guilty plea. Two weeks

later, Warren and his mother returned to Phillips’s office, upset about the plea, and

3. concerned with Warren’s potential defenses. Phillips provided case law to Warren to

support a lack of potential defenses and recommended that Warren seek new counsel if

he wanted to withdraw his plea.

{¶ 9} At the hearing, Warren again asserted that Phillips’s advice that Warren

could be sentenced only to community control for a second-degree felony was incorrect,

arguing that prison time was mandatory, and therefore Warren had ineffective assistance

of counsel in entering into his plea. The trial court therefore ordered the parties to brief

whether prison time is mandatory for a felony of the second degree and continued the

hearing.

{¶ 10} On October 24, 2022, Warren filed a second motion to withdraw his guilty

plea, this time labeling his motion as “Defendant’s Motion for Withdrawal of Guilty Plea

Based on the Incorrect Application of Mandatory Prison Sentencing Pursuant to R.C. §

2929.14(A)(2)(a).” In addition to arguing that prison time was mandatory for a second-

degree felony, Warren argued that he was never advised on potential trial defenses nor

“his right to a Fourth Amendment challenge to the admissibility of the State’s evidence

which it obtained by the interview of the victim, who was willing to testify as to what

really occurred, including several other key witnesses [Warren] intends to call to testify.”

Warren also again alleged that Phillips had threatened to withdraw if Warren decided to

go to trial.

{¶ 11} The state submitted a brief asserting that despite the presumption in favor

of prison, a sentencing court could impose community control for second-degree felonies

if it made certain findings under R.C. 2929.13(D)(2)(a) and (b).

4. {¶ 12} On November 29, 2022, the trial court held a second hearing on Warren’s

motion to withdraw. The parties again discussed the statutes regarding sentencing for

second-degree felonies, and Kalis refused to concede that a court could order community

control instead of prison time for a second-degree felony. The trial court instructed

Warren that Kalis’s interpretation of the law regarding sentencing was incorrect and gave

Warren the opportunity to consult with other counsel. Warren refused to do so.

{¶ 13} The trial court then gave Kalis the opportunity to create a record in support

of the motion to withdraw. Kalis refused to provide any information regarding any

defenses that he might assert at trial, including the Fourth Amendment challenge:

The Court: Thank you. So, Mr. Kalis, this is your motion. Make a factual record

as to any basis that you think justifies the Court allowing your client to withdraw

his plea.

Mr.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2024 Ohio 1072, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-warren-ohioctapp-2024.