State v. Combs, 2020 Ohio 5397

On July 13, 2019, Brooke Sadler discovered four people (Aaron Lawson, Jeffrey Combs, Erin Pappas, Joseph Snider) removing items from her pole barn on her Belfast Road property; Combs was shirtless and used a brown shirt to cover the pickup truck's license plate.
Sadler attempted to photograph the plate; after the truck began to back up she jumped into the bed, Lawson grabbed her phone and struck her, causing unconsciousness and multiple injuries.
Police found the pole barn open with items gathered, a brown shirt, and a blue Igloo cooler; UDF surveillance linked the four to the cooler and showed Combs arriving shirtless.
Combs was arrested, gave a recorded and written statement admitting he covered the plate and that Lawson had no right to the items, and was indicted for breaking-and-entering, complicity to robbery, and complicity to disrupting public services.
A jury convicted Combs of complicity to robbery and acquitted him on the other counts; the trial court sentenced him to an indefinite prison term of 3 to 4.5 years.
Combs appealed, arguing (1) prosecutorial misconduct during defense opening and ineffective assistance for failing to move for a mistrial, and (2) that his sentence was excessive.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Prosecutorial misconduct for interrupting defense opening (and related ineffective-assistance claim for not moving for mistrial)	State: prosecutor's single objection was reasonable to prevent improper vouching and did not deprive defendant of a fair trial	Combs: objection tainted the jury, deprived him of a fair trial; counsel was ineffective for not moving for mistrial	Court: overruled — objection had a valid basis, no prejudice shown; failure to move for mistrial was reasonable tactical choice
Excessive sentence (3 to 4.5 years indefinite for second-degree felony)	State: sentence within statutory range and supported by record, trial court considered R.C. 2929.11/2929.12	Combs: sentence excessive given minimal role and limited felony record	Court: overruled — sentence lawful, within statutory range, court considered seriousness, victim harm, recidivism risk, and appellant's criminal history

Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U.S. 433 (1974) (convicted defendant entitled to a fair, not a perfect, trial)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (two-prong ineffective-assistance standard)
State v. Bradley, 42 Ohio St.3d 136 (1989) (Ohio application of Strickland)
State v. Garner, 74 Ohio St.3d 49 (1995) (mistrial is warranted only when a fair trial is no longer possible)
State v. Marcum, 146 Ohio St.3d 516 (2016) (appellate review standard for felony sentences under R.C. 2953.08(G)(2))
State v. Landrum, 53 Ohio St.3d 107 (1990) (defendant not guaranteed an error-free trial)
State v. Davis, 159 Ohio St.3d 31 (2020) (reaffirming ineffective-assistance standard)