State v. Lester, 2012 Ohio 135

Lester was indicted in 2006 on five counts, including abduction, theft, attempted felonious assault, and aggravated menacing.
At trial, he was convicted on Counts 2–5: abduction (felony 3rd), theft (felony 5th), attempted felonious assault (felony 3rd), and aggravated menacing (misdemeanor).
Sentences included five years on Count 2 and three years on Count 3, to run concurrently with other terms.
The court’s sentencing entries and notices around post-release control were found inconsistent, leading to remands and resentencing proceedings under Foster-related standards.
Lester pursued multiple post-conviction petitions and various appeals from 2007–2011, including a nunc pro tunc correction and a later petition alleging voidness of the 2007 re-sentence; during this period he filed a Motion to Correct alleging a void/illegal sentence for failure to merge allied offenses.
The trial court denied the Motion to Correct as untimely and barred by res judicata; the court of appeals affirmed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the Motion to Correct was timely or barred	Lester argues the sentence is void for failure to merge allied offenses.	Lester maintains the issue falls outside res judicata and should be addressed on the merits.	Untimely post-conviction relief barred by res judicata; merits not reached.

State v. Holdcroft, 2007-Ohio-586 (Ohio (2007)) (time limits for post-conviction relief; untimeliness shown when filed after direct appeal)
State v. Reynolds, 79 Ohio St.3d 158 (Ohio (1997)) (foundational rule for post-conviction timeliness)
State v. Troglin, 2009-Ohio-5276 (Ohio (2009)) (res judicata bars raising issues already litigated)
State v. Perry, 10 Ohio St.2d 175 (Ohio (1967)) (finality/preclusion of issues in post-conviction)
State v. Saxon, 2006-Ohio-1245 (Ohio (2006)) (finality and avoidance of relitigation in post-conviction)
State v. Harlow, 2005-Ohio-959 (Ohio (2005)) (allied offenses/merger arguments raised on direct appeal barred by res judicata)
State v. Wilhite, 2007-Ohio-116 (Ohio (2007)) (allied offenses issue generally barred by res judicata)
State v. Turrentine, 2010-Ohio-4826 (Ohio (2010)) (application of res judicata to post-conviction claims)
State v. Wyerick, 2008-Ohio-2257 (Ohio (2008)) (allied offenses/ineffective assistance claims barred by res judicata)
State v. Payton, 2011-Ohio-4386 (Ohio (2011)) (regional precedent on post-conviction timeliness and res judicata)
State v. Poole, 2011-Ohio-716 (Ohio (2011)) (res judicata and post-conviction efficacy)
State v. Freeman, 2011-Ohio-2457 (Ohio (2011)) (post-conviction standards and preclusion)
State v. Carter, 2011-Ohio-414 (Ohio (2011)) (time limits and res judicata in post-conviction context)