State v. Holliday, 2017 Ohio 345

Benjamin Holliday was indicted for second-degree burglary and fourth-degree receiving stolen property after stealing a car and a 52-inch TV from his estranged wife’s sister.
A jury acquitted him of the indicted burglary but convicted him of the lesser-included third-degree burglary and convicted him of receiving stolen property.
On September 29, 2015, the trial court sentenced Holliday to 30 months (burglary) and 17 months (receiving), ordered those terms to run consecutively to each other and consecutively to a separate six-year sentence in another Lucas County case, and imposed postrelease control and restitution.
Appointed appellate counsel filed an Anders brief, concluding the appeal is frivolous and identifying one proposed assignment of error challenging the consecutive sentences.
Holliday filed a pro se brief arguing the sentence is not supported by the record (citing Marcum) and claiming the trial judge should have recused herself.
The Sixth District conducted full review, including the sentencing transcript, and affirmed the judgment and granted counsel’s motion to withdraw.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Holliday)	Held
Whether the trial court erred by imposing consecutive sentences	Consecutive sentences were properly imposed: court found necessity to protect public, punishment, not disproportionate, and that harm was great/unusual	Consecutive sentences are unsupported by the record and therefore improper under Marcum standard	Affirmed — court made required statutory findings on the record; findings supported by PSI and transcript; sentence not clearly and convincingly contrary to law
Whether the trial judge’s refusal to recuse required reversal	N/A (State did not seek reversal on recusal)	Judge improperly denied recusal; denial requires review	Denial of voluntary recusal is not reviewable on appeal where defendant did not pursue R.C. 2701.03; no basis for reversal

Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (U.S. 1967) (appointed counsel may move to withdraw if appeal is frivolous, but must file brief identifying arguable issues)
State v. Duncan, 57 Ohio App.2d 93 (Ohio App. 1978) (Anders procedure in Ohio appellate practice)
State v. Bonnell, 140 Ohio St.3d 209 (Ohio 2014) (trial court must state required consecutive-sentence findings on the record; reasons not required so long as record supports findings)
State v. Marcum, 146 Ohio St.3d 516 (Ohio 2016) (clarifies R.C. 2953.08(G)(2) standard: appellate court may vacate or modify only if clear-and-convincing evidence shows the record does not support the sentence)