State v. Mays
2016 Ohio 7481
| Ohio Ct. App. | 2016Background
- March 3, 2015: Mays, two codefendants, and a third individual went to Tyrone Meeks’s residence to buy marijuana; the third individual produced a gun, took Meeks’s handgun, and handed it to Mays.
- Items taken included marijuana and electronics; Meeks traced a stolen iPhone to a vehicle where officers found the defendants and recovered many stolen items.
- Grand jury returned a seven-count indictment including aggravated robbery, robbery, kidnapping, theft, receiving stolen property, and tampering; multiple firearm specifications attached.
- Mays pleaded guilty pursuant to a plea deal to amended Count 2 (robbery, second-degree felony with a one-year firearm specification) and Count 5 (theft, fifth-degree felony); remaining counts dismissed; restitution and no-contact terms agreed.
- Sentenced to an aggregate three-year term (two years for robbery plus one year firearm spec consecutive; theft concurrent); Mays appealed claiming ineffective assistance for advising plea and failing to seek merger, and that his plea was not knowing, intelligent, and voluntary.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument (State) | Defendant's Argument (Mays) | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to move to merge robbery and theft | State: No prejudice because sentences were concurrent and record supports separate conduct | Mays: Counsel should have sought merger; robbery and theft were allied offenses so separate convictions prejudiced him | Court: No ineffective assistance — no reasonable probability of a different outcome; conduct supported separate offenses |
| Whether counsel was ineffective for advising Mays to plead guilty | State: Plea bargain eliminated exposure on multiple felonies and specs; counsel’s advice was reasonable | Mays: Counsel advised plea to offenses unsupported by his conduct and thus incompetent advice | Court: No — counsel negotiated a favorable plea, performance not objectively unreasonable, no reasonable probability Mays would have gone to trial |
| Whether Mays’s guilty plea was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary under Crim.R. 11 | State: Court complied with Crim.R. 11; plea was knowing and voluntary | Mays: He lacked mens rea and his factual account post-plea showed plea invalid | Court: Plea colloquy met Crim.R. 11; plea was knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently entered |
| Whether appellate review is barred by forfeiture for failing to raise allied-offenses merger at trial | State: Failure to raise in trial court forfeits all but plain error | Mays: Ineffective assistance claim saves review because counsel failed to object | Held: Rogers and related precedent apply; court resolved on prejudice (Strickland) and found merger claim lacked reasonable probability |
Key Cases Cited
- Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-prong ineffective-assistance test: deficient performance and prejudice)
- Premo v. Moore, 562 U.S. 115 (applying Strickland in plea-bargain context; counsel makes complex strategic choices)
- Hill v. Lockhart, 474 U.S. 52 (prejudice standard for ineffective-assistance claims where plea entered)
- State v. Rogers, 143 Ohio St.3d 385 (forfeiture of allied-offenses claim absent timely trial-court objection; plain-error framework)
- State v. Holdcroft, 137 Ohio St.3d 526 (conviction consists of both guilt finding and sentence)
- State v. Ruff, 143 Ohio St.3d 114 (test for allied offenses: separate, identifiable harm, separate conduct, or separate animus)
- State v. Madrigal, 87 Ohio St.3d 378 (discussing Strickland prong analysis)
- State v. Xie, 62 Ohio St.3d 521 (plea-withdrawal/ineffective-assistance standards following guilty plea)
- State v. Spates, 64 Ohio St.3d 269 (waiver of appealable issues by guilty plea except some ineffective-assistance claims)