State v. Baker, 2017 Ohio 8602

December 22, 2011: robbery and shooting at Cash and Go pawn shop; victim Ilya Golub and one perpetrator (McClain) died; Larry Baker was one of three alleged perpetrators.
June 2013: jury convicted Baker of multiple counts including four counts of murder, aggravated robbery, and felonious assault, each with firearm specifications; after merger, sentence aggregated to 36 years to life plus additional terms/costs.
Baker’s direct appeal was affirmed by this court in 2014; he later filed a post-conviction petition in 2014 alleging ineffective assistance for failing to call a co-perpetrator and present evidence he contacted police after return to Detroit; that petition was denied and affirmed on appeal.
February 21, 2017: Baker filed a motion styled as “newly discovered evidence” (alternatively plain error) alleging counsel failed to inform him of a plea offer (20–24 years) and that, but for counsel’s failure, he would have accepted the plea.
Trial court denied the motion as an untimely/successive petition for post-conviction relief and on the merits for lack of adequate evidence that an offer was made or that counsel acted deficiently.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Baker’s motion is a timely post-conviction petition	State: motion is an untimely/successive post-conviction petition	Baker: motion alleges newly discovered evidence of plea offer, seeking reinstatement	Court: petition is untimely; Baker did not show exception under R.C. 2953.23(A)
Whether Baker was unavoidably prevented from discovering plea-offer facts	State: no reliable evidence of plea offer; Baker failed to show unavoidable prevention	Baker: counsel told affiants but not him; mother’s letter supports existence of an offer	Court: Baker did not show he was unavoidably prevented from discovering facts; mother’s letter insufficient hearsay
Whether counsel was constitutionally ineffective for plea bargaining	State: no evidence plea offer existed or that Baker would have accepted it	Baker: counsel failed to investigate/communicate plea offer leading to prejudice	Court: even on merits, Baker failed to prove deficient performance or prejudice; evidence did not show an offer of 20–24 years or that he would accept it
Proper remedy if ineffective assistance shown	State: N/A (no offer proven)	Baker: seeks reinstatement/modification based on plea offer	Court: no relief because statutory timeliness and evidentiary requirements not met; assignment of error overruled

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-part ineffective-assistance standard)
State v. Gondor, 112 Ohio St.3d 377 (Ohio 2006) (post-conviction relief is a collateral civil proceeding)
State v. Steffen, 70 Ohio St.3d 399 (1994) (limits on rights in post-conviction proceedings)
State v. Bradley, 42 Ohio St.3d 136 (1989) (Ohio adoption of Strickland standard)
Lafler v. Cooper, 566 U.S. 156 (2012) ( Sixth Amendment protection in plea-bargaining context)