State v. Bailey, 218 N.E.3d 858

Bailey approached three people in downtown Cincinnati intending to rob them; when valuables were lacking he knocked two men unconscious, threatened a woman, and forced her to walk about one city block to a parking garage. There he raped her.
He was indicted on robbery, kidnapping, abduction, and two counts of rape; a jury convicted on all counts.
At sentencing the trial court merged the abduction and kidnapping counts but declined to merge the kidnapping and rape counts, finding the movement to the garage had independent significance; the court imposed consecutive maximum terms.
Bailey did not object at sentencing to the trial court’s refusal to merge the kidnapping and rape counts.
The First District reversed on plain-error review, concluding the kidnapping and rape were allied offenses that should have merged; the Ohio Supreme Court granted review and reversed the court of appeals, reinstating the trial-court sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Bailey)	Held
Whether the trial court’s refusal to merge kidnapping and rape (R.C. 2941.25) constituted plain error after Bailey forfeited objection at sentencing	The trial court’s factual finding (substantial movement with independent significance) was supported by the record and deserves deference; plain error was not shown.	The kidnapping was merely incidental to the rape and thus an allied offense that should have merged; failure to merge is plain error.	Reversed the appellate court: even assuming error, it was not "obvious" under plain-error standards; Bailey forfeited all but plain error and did not meet those conjunctive requirements, so the trial-court sentence is reinstated.

State v. Williams, 983 N.E.2d 1245 (Ohio 2012) (de novo review of allied-offense merger under R.C. 2941.25)
State v. Rogers, 38 N.E.3d 860 (Ohio 2015) (plain-error standard for forfeited allied-offense claims)
State v. Ruff, 34 N.E.3d 892 (Ohio 2015) (three-part test for allied offenses: import, separation, animus)
State v. Earley, 49 N.E.3d 266 (Ohio 2015) (application of the Ruff merger analysis)
State v. Long, 372 N.E.2d 804 (Ohio 1978) (plain-error doctrine applied with caution to prevent miscarriage of justice)
State v. Johnson, 942 N.E.2d 1061 (Ohio 2010) (fact-dependent nature of merger analysis)
State v. Logan, 397 N.E.2d 1345 (Ohio 1979) (precedent on movement and rape contexts)
State v. Underwood, 922 N.E.2d 923 (Ohio 2010) (plain-error review applies even to sentences imposed after plea; concession by parties may make error obvious)