State v. Johnson, 2015 Ohio 4802

Cody A. Johnson pleaded guilty in two Seneca County cases (burglary/assault and multiple fraud-related counts) and received an aggregate prison term of 4 years, 11 months.
Johnson was granted judicial release and placed on five years of community control with a condition to obey all laws, including laws related to property and theft.
On January 26, 2015, Johnson attempted to use a Kohl’s charge card registered to Gene Best; the transaction was denied and the card had been reported stolen.
Police reports, store statements, and testimony from officers (loss-prevention video, cashier statement, Best’s handwritten statement) implicated Johnson; Best later produced a notarized statement recanting and saying the use was permitted.
Johnson’s probation officer filed a Notification of Alleged Judicial Release Violations; the trial court held a revocation hearing (Best did not appear) and found Johnson violated community control by attempting to use the card without permission, reinstating the original prison terms.
Johnson appealed, raising (1) ineffective assistance of counsel at the revocation hearing and (2) insufficiency of the evidence to support revocation.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for not objecting to hearsay and for proceeding without the victim present	State: counsel’s choices were strategic; admissible hearsay and good cause supported proceeding	Johnson: counsel should have objected and subpoenaed Best to preserve confrontation rights	Court: No ineffective assistance — counsel’s choices were reasonable and hearsay was permissible given the circumstances
Whether evidence was sufficient to revoke judicial release for misuse of a credit card	State: officer testimony, store reports, and Best’s initial statement provided substantial evidence of unauthorized use	Johnson: evidence was largely hearsay and contradictory (Best’s later notarized statement) so insufficient	Court: Sufficient substantial evidence supported revocation; appellate court defers to trial court credibility determinations

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-prong ineffective assistance test)
Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471 (due process protections for revocation hearings; hearsay admissible; flexible evidence rules)
White v. Illinois, 502 U.S. 346 (hearsay admitted under firmly rooted exceptions does not violate confrontation right)
Dever, 64 Ohio St.3d 401 (Ohio recognition of hearsay exceptions and confrontation considerations)
Keith, 79 Ohio St.3d 514 (Ohio formulation of Strickland standard)
Cassano, 96 Ohio St.3d 94 (presumption that counsel’s conduct is within reasonable professional assistance)
Peagler, 76 Ohio St.3d 496 (appellate review principles regarding objections preserved at trial)