State v. Collins, 2013 Ohio 3726

Background

Devin K. Collins pled guilty to felonious assault (R.C. 2903.11(A)(1)), aggravated robbery (R.C. 2911.01(A)(1)), having weapons while under disability, tampering with evidence, and admitted a one-year firearm specification on the assault and robbery counts.
Trial court sentenced Collins to concurrent 10-year terms for felonious assault and aggravated robbery, consecutive one-year terms for each firearm specification, and consecutive 36-month terms for having weapons while under disability and for tampering with evidence, yielding a cumulative 17-year sentence.
The trial court concluded the felonious assault and aggravated robbery were not allied offenses of similar import and thus did not merge; Collins appealed that ruling.
Collins also challenged (1) imposition of court costs without waiver consideration and (2) the trial court’s failure to calculate and journalize jail-time credit; he raised ineffective-assistance claims based on counsel’s actions related to costs and jail-credit objections.
The appellate court found the record inadequate to decide the allied-offenses question, found the trial court abused its discretion by not considering waiver of costs after counsel filed an affidavit of indigency, and conceded the court failed to compute and include jail-time credit in violation of R.C. 2929.19(B)(2)(g)(i).

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether felonious assault and aggravated robbery are allied offenses under R.C. 2941.25/Johnson	State: offenses have separate animus (robbery then separate shooting) so they are not allied	Collins: the record shows overlapping conduct; offenses may be allied and should merge absent distinct animus	Remanded for an allied‑offenses hearing; record insufficient for de novo review, so reverse in part and remand
Whether trial court abused discretion by imposing court costs without waiving them	State: costs properly imposed under R.C. 2947.23; trial court followed procedure	Collins: was indigent; counsel failed to timely move to waive costs and later filed affidavit of indigency	Court abused discretion by not considering waiver after counsel filed affidavit; counsel not ineffective but Collins may move to waive costs on remand
Whether trial court failed to calculate and include jail-time credit	State concedes error	Collins: court did not determine or journalize jail-time credit and counsel failed to object	Sustained; remand to calculate and apply appropriate jail-time credit per R.C. 2929.19(B)(2)(g)(i)
Whether sentencing journal contains clerical errors re: consecutive terms and firearm-specification merge	State: sentencing entry reflects 17-year aggregate	Collins: entry ambiguous about consecutive ordering and whether firearm specifications merge	Appellate court notes clerical errors/ambiguities; remand for nunc pro tunc correction to reflect court’s actual sentencing intent

Key Cases Cited

State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (Ohio 2010) (adopted conduct-based test for allied offenses under R.C. 2941.25)
State v. Rance, 85 Ohio St.3d 632 (Ohio 1999) (overruled; previously required abstract-element comparison)
State v. Brown, 119 Ohio St.3d 447 (Ohio 2008) (discussed single-act/single-state-of-mind concept in allied-offense analysis)
State v. Logan, 60 Ohio St.2d 126 (Ohio 1979) (defined "animus" as purpose or immediate motive)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (two-part ineffective-assistance standard)
Nichols v. United States, 511 U.S. 738 (U.S. 1994) (noting sentencing process is less exacting than guilt determination)
State v. Williams, 134 Ohio St.3d 482 (Ohio 2012) (discussed allied‑offense principles post-Johnson)
State v. Underwood, 124 Ohio St.3d 365 (Ohio 2010) (explained that concurrent sentences are not a substitute for merger)
State v. Damron, 129 Ohio St.3d 86 (Ohio 2011) (concurrent sentences vs. merger and related principles)