State v. Davis, 2012 Ohio 1635

Davis, convicted in May 1992 of aggravated murder with felony-murder specs and firearm specs, plus kidnapping and aggravated robbery with firearm specs, was sentenced to death and long terms for other counts.
The Sixth Circuit in Davis v. Mitchell (6th Cir. 2003) held the trial court gave unconstitutional jury unanimity instructions at sentencing and ordered a new penalty phase within 180 days.
In December 2004, the trial court conducted a resentencing consistent with the federal mandate, setting 30 years to life plus 3 years for a firearm spec, with other conditions largely unchanged.
In 2011 the trial court issued a nunc pro tunc entry reciting the original convictions and the 2004 resentencing, which Davis challenged on appeal.
Davis has since pursued multiple appeals and postconviction relief petitions, attempting to raise issues about allied offenses, indictment sufficiency, and sentencing procedures.
The appellate court ultimately held the issues either res judicata or not properly raised on direct appeal, affirming the judgment.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the sentence complied with the federal mandate and Crim.R. 32 timing	Davis asserts speedy-trial/court-delay violations	State contends 180-day mandate and timing were satisfied	First assignment overruled; timing satisfied
Whether Counts 3–4 merged with Counts 1–2 as allied offenses	Davis argues double jeopardy due to non-merger	State argues merger issue should have been raised earlier/is barred	Second assignment barred by res judicata
Whether indictment elements were properly charged and could support guilt	Davis claims indictment lacked essential elements	State argues issue barred by res judicata; proper avenue was direct appeal	Third assignment barred by res judicata

State v. Perry, 10 Ohio St.2d 175 (1967) (final judgment precludes raising issues not raised earlier)
State v. Baker, 119 Ohio St.3d 197 (2008) (requires proper statement of conviction means in final judgment (Baker))
State v. Flagg, 2011-Ohio-5386 (8th Dist.) (allied-offense challenge must be raised on direct appeal)
State v. Poole, 2011-Ohio-716 (8th Dist.) (allied offenses issue timing; direct appeal preferred)
State v. Goldsmith, 2011-Ohio-840 (8th Dist.) (allied-offense merger issues barred if not raised earlier)
State v. Padgett, 2011-Ohio-1927 (8th Dist.) (allied offenses issues must be raised on direct appeal)
State v. Ballou, 2011-Ohio-2925 (8th Dist.) (allied offenses issue must be raised on direct appeal)