State v. Beasley (Slip Opinion), 97 N.E.3d 474

Andrea Beasley was indicted for possession of cocaine after a traffic stop and moved to suppress evidence; the trial court denied the motion.
On the day of trial counsel advised the court in open court that Beasley wished to plead no contest to preserve her right to appeal the denial of the suppression motion.
Counsel stated the judge had a "blanket policy" of refusing all no-contest pleas; the judge did not dispute that characterization and said only guilty or not guilty would be accepted.
Because the court would not accept a no-contest plea, Beasley entered a guilty plea, and the court imposed three years of community control.
On appeal the First District held the trial court erred in adopting a blanket refusal of no-contest pleas but concluded Beasley forfeited the claim by not entering a no-contest plea on the record; a dissent disagreed.
The Ohio Supreme Court accepted review and addressed (1) whether a trial court may adopt a blanket policy refusing no-contest pleas and (2) whether Beasley preserved the error for appeal.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether a trial court may adopt a blanket policy refusing no-contest pleas	State: trial court has discretion to accept or reject no-contest pleas	Beasley: blanket refusal is arbitrary and an abuse of discretion	Court: blanket refusal is an abuse of discretion; courts must consider facts/circumstances rather than apply a categorical rule
Whether Beasley preserved the error despite entering a guilty plea	State: guilty plea waives nonjurisdictional pretrial errors like suppression rulings	Beasley: counsel on the record advised the court she wished to plead no contest but the court’s stated policy made that plea futile	Court: Beasley preserved the error because counsel expressly stated the desire to plead no contest and the court acknowledged it would summarily reject such a plea, so requiring a futile on-the-record no-contest plea was unnecessary

State v. Jenkins, 15 Ohio St.3d 164 (Ohio 1984) (appellate review of trial-court discretion to accept pleas)
Blakemore v. Blakemore, 5 Ohio St.3d 217 (Ohio 1983) (defines abuse of discretion as unreasonable, arbitrary, or unconscionable)
Dayton ex rel. Scandrick v. McGee, 67 Ohio St.2d 356 (Ohio 1981) (definition of "arbitrary")
State v. Carter, 124 Ohio App.3d 423 (Ohio Ct. App. 1997) (rejecting blanket refusal to accept no-contest pleas)
State v. Fitzpatrick, 102 Ohio St.3d 321 (Ohio 2004) (guilty plea generally waives nonjurisdictional pretrial defects)
State v. Obermiller, 147 Ohio St.3d 175 (Ohio 2016) (discussion of waiver effect of guilty pleas)