State v. Brewer, 2021 Ohio 2289

Amber Brewer was indicted on multiple counts stemming from sexual abuse of four minors (three girls ages 4–8 and a 3-year-old boy), including ten counts of rape of a child under ten and numerous related sexual-offense and child-endangerment charges.
Brewer pleaded guilty to four counts of rape of a child under ten in exchange for dismissal of the remaining 28 charges after a Crim.R. 11 plea colloquy; the court found the plea knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.
The trial court sentenced Brewer to consecutive life terms without parole on each rape count and designated her a Tier III sex offender.
Brewer filed a delayed appeal asserting ineffective assistance of counsel under the Sixth Amendment and Cronic, arguing counsel failed to (1) seek a psychological/competency/insanity evaluation and (2) present any mitigation at sentencing.
The court reviewed whether the Cronic presumption of prejudice applied and, finding counsel did not completely fail to test the prosecution’s case, applied the Strickland standard requiring both deficient performance and prejudice.
The court concluded counsel’s conduct (discovery, bill of particulars, pretrial hearings, plea negotiations, client communication, presence at plea and sentencing) was reasonable; no indicia of incompetency or insanity appeared in the record; and there was no prejudice from the absence of mitigation evidence. Judgment affirmed.

Issue	Brewer's Argument	State's Argument	Held
Whether Cronic presumption of prejudice applies for alleged complete failure to test the prosecution's case	Counsel entirely failed to function as adversary; prejudice should be presumed under Cronic	Counsel actively participated in discovery, motions, plea negotiations, hearings, and plea/sentencing — not a complete failure	Cronic does not apply because counsel did not completely fail to test the case; Strickland standard governs
Whether counsel was ineffective for not seeking a psychological/competency/insanity evaluation	Counsel should have requested evaluation to test competency/insanity and to verify understanding of plea consequences	Record showed no indicia of incompetency or severe mental disease; Brewer was lucid and able to participate	No deficient performance — no evidence in record warranted a competency or insanity evaluation
Whether counsel was ineffective for failing to present mitigation at sentencing	Counsel offered no mitigation and Brewer asserts this amounted to ineffective assistance	Counsel consulted Brewer, who instructed counsel not to convey anything; tactical choices are generally reasonable	No prejudice shown; sentencing would not have differed given facts and the court’s view of the offenses

United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (presumption of prejudice applies only when counsel completely fails to test prosecution's case)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective-assistance standard requires deficiency and prejudice)
Bell v. Cone, 535 U.S. 685 (Cronic presumption requires complete failure to subject prosecution to adversarial testing)
State v. Sanders, 92 Ohio St.3d 245 (discussing Cronic contexts under Ohio law)
State v. Madrigal, 87 Ohio St.3d 378 (failure to satisfy either Strickland prong is fatal)