State v. Grace, 2017 Ohio 7652

On Feb. 1, 2014, Grace was stopped and charged with two OVI counts, speeding, failure to wear a seatbelt (Wayne C.P. 2014 TR-C 000643), and possession of marijuana (2014 CR-B 000172).
The State consolidated the cases; Grace pleaded not guilty, was appointed counsel, and moved to suppress (denied).
At the first scheduled bench trial the State sought a continuance and Grace requested new counsel; the court granted both requests.
At the rescheduled trial date Grace requested a continuance to retain private counsel after reviewing body-camera video; the trial court denied the request and conducted a bench trial.
The trial court found Grace guilty; on initial appeal this Court remanded because the verdict had been journaled before being announced in Grace’s presence; on remand the court announced the guilty verdicts in Grace’s presence.
On this second appeal Grace argued the trial court abused its discretion and violated his Sixth Amendment and Ohio constitutional right to counsel by denying the last-minute continuance to obtain new counsel.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether denial of a day-of-trial continuance to retain new counsel was an abuse of discretion and violated the right to counsel	Grace: denial prevented him from securing counsel of choice and denied effective assistance	State: trial court acted within its discretion; issues are subject to res judicata	Court: barred by res judicata; claims could have been raised on initial appeal, so assignments overruled

State v. Roberts, 137 Ohio St.3d 230 (2013) (res judicata precludes relitigation on issues that could have been raised on initial appeal)
State v. D’Ambrosio, 73 Ohio St.3d 141 (1995) (precedent explaining res judicata in criminal appeals)
State v. Saxon, 109 Ohio St.3d 176 (2006) (res judicata promotes finality and prevents relitigation)