State v. Foster, 2011 Ohio 3582

Foster was indicted on 18 counts in 2002 stemming from five incidents, including attempted murder, aggravated robberies, and felonious assaults.
In 2002, Foster withdrew not guilty pleas, pleaded guilty to 11 counts, and the state nolled the rest; he was sentenced to 84 years in prison.
On direct appeal, this court affirmed the guilty pleas to attempted murder, aggravated robbery, and felonious assault but remanded for resentencing on firearm specifications.
In 2004, the trial court resentenced Foster, merging firearm specifications and imposing a 58-year term.
Foster pursued habeas corpus relief in federal court; the district court granted a conditional writ requiring a new plea or trial, leading to further proceedings and eventual plea in 2010.
In 2010, Foster pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, attempted aggravated murder, felonious assault, kidnapping, and possession of criminal tools, in exchange for an 18-year sentence to be served concurrently with a murder conviction in a separate case.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the plea was knowingly and voluntarily entered due to ineffective assistance	Foster argues counsel was ineffective, rendering the plea involuntary	Foster contends ineffective assistance affected voluntariness	Plea entered knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily; no merit to ineffectiveness claim
Whether the court erred by not ruling on motions for new counsel	Foster contends the court failed to rule on motions to appoint new counsel	Foster asserts lack of timely ruling affected his rights	No reversible error; no good cause shown for discharge of counsel; motions overruled
Whether prosecutorial misconduct warranted relief	Prosecutor withheld a statement from the murder victim	States misconduct affected trial integrity	Issue relates to murder trial, not the challenged pleas; declined to address
Whether duplicate indictments invalidated the plea	State allegedly pursued duplicative indictments influencing plea	Defense counsel ineffective for not objecting	No merit; charges dismissed; plea knowing and voluntary

State v. Foster, 2003-Ohio-5636 (Ohio App. 8th Dist. 2003) (remand for resentencing; record insufficient to support consecutive firearm specifications)
State v. Foster, 2004-Ohio-2400 (Ohio App. 8th Dist. 2004) (application to reopen denied; res judicata bars relief)
State v. Foster, 2011-Ohio-2781 (Ohio App. 8th Dist. 2011) (affirmed murder conviction and related issues on appeal)