State v. Cleland, 2012 Ohio 5016

Cleland murdered his estranged wife's live-in boyfriend and staged the scene to look like suicide.
He broke into the apartment, strangled the victim, and left a suicide note in the victim's hand.
Cleland initially pleaded guilty but sought to withdraw; this court vacated due to lack of post-release-control notice.
On remand, a jury convicted Cleland of multiple offenses including aggravated murder, aggravated burglary, and kidnapping; the court merged several offenses and sentenced on one main count.
On appeal, the Supreme Court's Johnson decision prompted remand to re-evaluate allied offenses; on remand the court held the aggravated murder and aggravated burglary were not allied offenses of similar import.
Cleland challenges the remand sentence, arguing merger should require a five-year term concurrent with the thirty-year term for aggravated murder.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether aggravated murder and aggravated burglary merge	Cleland: merger required for allied offenses of similar import.	State: offenses are dissimilar import and can be separately punished.	No merger; offenses are dissimilar import; not allied offenses.

State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (2010) (two-prong test for allied offenses under Johnson)
State v. Johnson, 88 Ohio St.3d 95 (2000) (distinguishes merging of aggravated murder and aggravated burglary)
State v. Moss, 69 Ohio St.2d 515 (1982) (offenses not merged when not incidental to each other)
State v. Reynolds, 80 Ohio St.3d 670 (1998) (allied offenses analysis framework)
State v. Baer, 67 Ohio St.2d 220 (1981) (import of offenses governs merger analysis)
State v. Botta, 27 Ohio St.2d 196 (1971) (separate crimes in same transaction may yield multiple sentences)
State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (2010) (post-remand Johnson framework for allied offenses)