State v. Perkins, 2019 Ohio 2049

On May 13, 2017, Officer Jeffrey Bauer stopped Daren M. Perkins for driving with a suspended license; Perkins left on foot to find a licensed driver after being told he could do so.
While Perkins was away, dispatch summoned a tow truck and officers conducted an inventory search of the vehicle.
Items in the car (bottles with chemical residues, coffee filter, sludge, evidence of lithium extraction) were analyzed by BCI and found consistent with chemicals/waste used to manufacture methamphetamine; methamphetamine itself was not recovered.
Perkins was indicted under R.C. 2925.041(A) for illegal possession of chemicals for manufacture of drugs, tried pro se with standby counsel, convicted by a jury, and sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment.
Perkins appealed, raising two assignments of error: (1) trial counsel was ineffective for failing to move to suppress evidence from the inventory search; (2) the trial court failed to consider R.C. 2929.11 and 2929.12 when imposing sentence.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether counsel was ineffective for not filing a suppression motion challenging the inventory search	Perkins: no valid basis for inventory search because officer initially permitted him to obtain a driver and vehicle was not truly impounded; failure to move to suppress was deficient	State: argued Perkins represented himself at trial so ineffective-assistance claim fails (court rejected this contention)	Court held Perkins failed to show a basis to suppress; no deficient performance shown because record lacks evidence tow/impoundment was improper or pretextual; ineffective-assistance claim fails
Whether sentencing court failed to consider R.C. 2929.11 and 2929.12	Perkins: court sentenced minutes after verdict, made no express findings or mention of these statutes in hearing or entry	State: record supports court’s consideration; sentencing within statutory range and court referenced defendant’s criminal record and local drug problem	Court presumed statutory consideration where record is silent and defendant failed to rebut that presumption; sentence affirmed

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-part ineffective-assistance test)
Kimmelman v. Morrison, 477 U.S. 365 (failure to file suppression motion not per se ineffective assistance)
State v. Hale, 892 N.E.2d 864 (Ohio 2008) (applies Strickland standard in Ohio)
State v. Robinson, 391 N.E.2d 317 (Ohio 1979) (routine inventory search of lawfully impounded vehicle is not unreasonable if pursuant to standard police practice)
State v. Adams, 525 N.E.2d 1361 (Ohio 1988) (presumption that trial court considered R.C. 2929.11 and 2929.12 where record is silent)
State v. Kalish, 896 N.E.2d 124 (Ohio 2008) (appellate review framework for felony sentences and consideration of sentencing statutes)
State v. Spaulding, 89 N.E.3d 554 (Ohio 2016) (applying Strickland analysis when counsel fails to file suppression motion)