State v. Minich, 2017 Ohio 9262

Patricia Minich, former manager for Jackson Hewitt franchises owned by Karyn and Richard Engel, was indicted on multiple theft, grand theft, identity fraud, and forgery counts for misappropriating company funds, using company credit cards, and fraudulently claiming unemployment benefits between 2007–2014.
Consolidated indictments originally charged 28 felonies; 24 counts proceeded to trial after amendments and dismissals.
The state proved losses of approximately $76,979 (Chase), $122,589 (Engels/Jackson Hewitt), and $26,966 (State of Ohio).
Jury acquitted Minich on several counts but convicted her on 13 theft/grand-theft counts, identity fraud against an elderly person (second-degree felony), and forgery (third-degree felony).
The trial court merged multiple counts under R.C. 2913.61(C)(1) and elected to sentence on five counts, imposing consecutive terms totaling 9.5 years and ordering restitution to the state, the Engels, and Chase.
On appeal Minich challenged (1) the trial court’s failure to merge certain counts for sentencing under R.C. 2941.25 and (2) sufficiency of the evidence on Count 23 (identity fraud against a person in a protected class).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (State)	Defendant's Argument (Minich)	Held
Whether the court plainly erred by failing to merge Counts 17–24 under R.C. 2941.25	Offenses involved separate victims and separate conduct; trial court merged several counts appropriately; remaining counts reflect distinct acts/animus	Trial court failed to inquire about merger of counts 17–24; convictions are allied offenses of similar import and should merge	No plain error. Counts involved distinct victims (state vs. Engel) or separate, temporally discrete unemployment claims with independent animus, so separate convictions permitted
Whether evidence was sufficient to convict on Count 23 (identity fraud against an elderly person)	Evidence showed Minich submitted unemployment forms bearing Richard Engel’s identifying information/signature without his consent and held herself out as Engel; total course-of-conduct losses could be aggregated under R.C. 2913.49(H) to elevate the degree	Argues the impersonation was of an entity (Jackson Hewitt) not an individual; alternatively, an entity cannot be "elderly" so second-degree enhancement is improper	Guilty upheld. Evidence sufficed to show Minich held herself out as Richard Engel; Engel was an elderly person and the $26,996 in unemployment benefits could be aggregated to support second-degree classification

State v. Rogers, 143 Ohio St.3d 385 (2015) (forfeited merger claims reviewed only for plain error and defendant must show reasonable probability of allied-offense error)
State v. Whitfield, 124 Ohio St.3d 319 (2010) (R.C. 2941.25 protects against multiple punishments for same conduct)
State v. Williams, 148 Ohio St.3d 403 (2016) (R.C. 2941.25 inquiry depends on defendant’s conduct; apply Ruff test)
State v. Ruff, 143 Ohio St.3d 114 (2015) (three-part allied-offense test: dissimilar import, separate conduct, separate animus)
State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (1991) (Jackson v. Virginia standard for sufficiency: viewing evidence in prosecution’s favor, could a rational trier of fact convict?)
Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307 (1979) (due-process sufficiency-of-evidence standard)
State v. Moss, 69 Ohio St.2d 515 (1982) (early articulation of allied-offense considerations)