State v. Gaffin, 2017 Ohio 2935

Kevin Gaffin was indicted on seven counts (three counts of rape, three counts of sexual battery, one count of felonious assault) for sexual assaults on his stepson, R.A.; he pleaded not guilty and was tried in June 2016.
Trial testimony described two incidents of sexual assault when the victim was about six to seven years old and subsequent disclosure years later leading to evaluation and counseling diagnoses.
During jury deliberations (about an hour in), defense counsel learned a juror told a deputy he had “made up his mind”; the court questioned that juror, who stated he was still considering the evidence and had not discussed it with other jurors.
The prosecutor requested the juror be excused; the trial court excused him, sequestered him from the panel, replaced him with an alternate, and instructed the jury to restart deliberations from the beginning.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts about forty minutes after restarting; Gaffin was sentenced to life without parole and appealed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court erred by not questioning remaining jurors after juror misconduct was discovered	State: Court’s handling (questioning the juror, excusing him, replacing with alternate, restarting deliberations) was proper	Gaffin: Court should have voir dired remaining jurors to determine if they were tainted	Court: Gaffin waived all but plain error; no plain error — court reasonably handled the incident and had no reason to believe other jurors were affected
Whether Gaffin received ineffective assistance of counsel based on multiple alleged deficiencies	State: Counsel’s performance presumed reasonable; Gaffin failed to show prejudice from alleged errors	Gaffin: Cumulative errors (failure to object, expert work, openings, evidentiary strategy, etc.) deprived him of effective assistance	Court: Strickland requires prejudice; Gaffin did not demonstrate how outcomes would differ, so claim fails (no need to reach deficiency prong)

State v. Hessler, 90 Ohio St.3d 108 (trial judge entitled to deference in juror-misconduct inquiries)
State v. Huertas, 51 Ohio St.3d 22 (deference to trial judge on juror matters)
State v. Adams, 62 Ohio St.2d 151 (standard for reversing juror-misconduct handling)
State v. Sanders, 92 Ohio St.3d 245 (failure to request relief at trial waives juror-misconduct claim absent plain error)
Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (two-prong deficient performance and prejudice standard for ineffective assistance)
McMann v. Richardson, 397 U.S. 759 (right to counsel includes effective assistance)
State v. Issa, 93 Ohio St.3d 49 (Ohio application of Strickland)
State v. Goff, 82 Ohio St.3d 123 (further discussion of ineffective-assistance principles)
State v. Barnes, 94 Ohio St.3d 21 (plain-error framework)
State v. Davis, 116 Ohio St.3d 404 (burden on party asserting plain error)