State v. Lenard, 2017 Ohio 8570

Richard Marcus Lenard filed an App.R. 26(B) application seeking to reopen his appeal of convictions for theft and tampering with records after this court affirmed his conviction and sentence in State v. Lenard, 8th Dist. No. 104986, 2017-Ohio-4074.
Lenard alleged ineffective assistance of appellate counsel and raised a single proposed assignment of error: the trial court imposed court costs in the journal entry without announcing them at the sentencing hearing.
The sentencing transcript shows the trial court stated it would "order that you do pay court costs" and allowed court community work service in lieu of costs; the court also waived a fine and remanded Lenard.
The appellate panel applied the Strickland standard for ineffective assistance of counsel (deficient performance and resulting prejudice) and emphasized deference to counsel’s strategic choices.
The panel concluded appellate counsel was not deficient for failing to raise a meritless claim because costs were in fact imposed at sentencing; therefore Lenard failed to show prejudice.
The court denied the application for reopening.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether appellate counsel was ineffective for not arguing the court imposed costs only in the journal entry and not in open court	Lenard: trial court did not impose costs at sentencing, so including them in the journal entry was improper	State: transcript shows the court explicitly ordered payment of court costs at sentencing and offered CCWS in lieu	Court: Costs were announced at sentencing; appellate counsel need not raise a frivolous claim; no prejudice under Strickland; application denied

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984) (establishes two-prong ineffective-assistance standard: deficient performance and prejudice)
State v. Bradley, 42 Ohio St.3d 136 (1989) (Ohio adoption and discussion of Strickland standard for ineffective assistance)