State v. Cottrell, 2012 Ohio 4583

Cottrell was charged in two related cases arising from an August 12, 2010 incident: felonious assault (10 CR 449) and rape/kidnapping (10 CR 527).
He was arrested August 12, 2010 and the cases were scheduled for trial November 9, 2010 before being reset.
On November 8, 2010, Cottrell filed time waivers in both cases, stating a 4-month waiver of speedy-trial time limits.
A January 21, 2011 court entry continued the trials to March 17, 2011 due to scheduling problems, tolling speedy-trial time under R.C. 2945.72(H).
Cottrell did not object to the March 17, 2011 trial date; the court deemed the continuance reasonable given docket constraints.
Cottrell was ultimately tried March 17, 2011, found guilty of kidnapping and felonious assault, not guilty of rape, and appealed the convictions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Was trial counsel ineffective for not moving to dismiss for speedy-trial violations?	Cottrell argues delays violated 2945.71-.72; dismissal was warranted.	State must show tolling events; waivers and continuance overlapped; not a futile motion.	No speedy-trial violation; no deficient performance; motion would be futile.
Was trial counsel ineffective for not requesting aggravated assault as an inferior-degree instruction?	Aggravated assault instruction would align with evidence and possibly aid acquittal.	Failure to request is trial strategy; could aim for acquittal on felonious assault.	Presumed trial strategy; no ineffective assistance shown.

State v. Singer, 50 Ohio St.2d 103 (1977) (mandatory duty to comply with speedy-trial statutes)
Brecksville v. Cook, 75 Ohio St.3d 53 (1996) (strict construction of speedy-trial rights against State)
State v. Monroe, 2007-Ohio-1492 (4th Dist.) (pilot burden-shifting framework for speedy-trial tolling)
State v. Mincy, 2 Ohio St.3d 6 (1982) (reasonableness of continuances in tolling speedy-trial time)
State v. Younker, 2008-Ohio-6889 (4th Dist.) (start of speedy-trial time and tolling during waivers)
State v. Madden, 2005-Ohio-4281 (10th Dist.) (calendar days counting in speedy-trial computation)
State v. Smith, 2011-Ohio-602 (4th Dist.) (reasonableness of continuances in speedy-trial tolling)
State v. Lee, 1976-Ohio-209 (Ohio St.) (general principles on continuances and speedy-trial timing)
State v. Walker, 2000 WL 875954 (4th Dist.) (trial-strategy presumption for failure to request lesser-included instruction)
State v. Blevins, 2011-Ohio-3367 (4th Dist.) (non-futility of non-meritorious motions in ineffective-assistance analysis)