State v. Ferdinandsen, 2016 Ohio 7172

Defendant Robert Ferdinandsen was indicted for felonious assault (second-degree felony) and, pursuant to a negotiated plea, pled guilty at a Crim.R. 11 colloquy; parties recommended five years community control with a three-year reserved prison term.
Before sentencing, Ferdinandsen attempted to withdraw his guilty plea; a hearing was held after a presentence investigation revealed he used a "whizzinator" device while providing a urine sample.
At the plea-withdrawal hearing, the court heard testimony from Ferdinandsen, his then-girlfriend (Hoffman), and the victim; Ferdinandsen claimed actual innocence based on self-defense and ineffective assistance of counsel induced the plea.
The trial court denied the motion to withdraw, finding Ferdinandsen not credible, that he created the situation leading to the assault, and that his self-defense claim was unsubstantiated.
The court then sentenced Ferdinandsen to four years in prison; he appealed solely arguing the trial court abused its discretion in denying the presentence motion to withdraw the plea.
The appellate majority affirmed; a single judge dissented, arguing the State conceded lack of prejudice and that self-defense should have been decided by a jury, not via weighing at the plea-withdrawal stage.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether trial court abused discretion in denying presentence motion to withdraw guilty plea	State: denial proper because court permissibly found movant lacked credible, reasonable basis to withdraw (timing and credibility problems)	Ferdinandsen: plea withdrawal should be allowed because State not prejudiced and he has arguable actual-innocence/self-defense and counsel pressured him	Held: No abuse of discretion; court reasonably concluded motion was a change of heart and self-defense/inffective-assistance claims were unsubstantiated and not credible

State v. Xie, 62 Ohio St.3d 521 (setting standard for presentence plea-withdrawal and reasonable-and-legitimate-basis test)
State v. Griffin, 141 Ohio App.3d 551 (factors to consider when ruling on plea-withdrawal)
State v. Fish, 104 Ohio App.3d 236 (factors and balancing for plea-withdrawal)
State v. Adams, 62 Ohio St.2d 151 (definition of abuse of discretion)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (ineffective-assistance-of-counsel two-prong standard)
Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52 (prejudice standard for counsel-related defects affecting guilty plea)
State v. Reynolds, 40 Ohio St.3d 334 (no requirement to inform defendant of available defenses at plea colloquy)
State v. Bradley, 42 Ohio St.3d 136 (standards for attorney duty and prejudice in criminal cases)
State v. Lytle, 48 Ohio St.2d 391 (counsel performance and prejudice principles)
State v. Kole, 92 Ohio St.3d 303 (ineffective assistance standards reiterated)