State v. Romanda, 2013 Ohio 1771

In 2007 Romanda pled guilty to two counts of rape, one count of kidnapping, one count of felonious assault, and one count of disrupting a public service.
The trial court sentenced Romanda to a total of 30 years in prison; this court previously affirmed the convictions on direct appeal.
In 2012 Romanda filed a motion to vacate and set aside sentence under R.C. 2941.25 arguing due process rights were violated by failure to merge allied offenses of similar import.
The trial court denied the motion in a journal entry dated April 27, 2012; Romanda timely appealed.
The court consolidated Romanda’s four assignments of error for discussion; ultimately held the motion was untimely and res judicata barred the merger argument.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Timeliness of post-conviction relief	Romanda argues due process rights were violated requiring relief.	State contends timely post-conviction petition was untimely and exceptions not shown.	Untimely; exceptions not shown; no abuse of discretion.
Merger/allied offenses and res judicata	Romanda asserts judgment should reflect merger of allied offenses.	State argues merger issue could have been raised earlier and is barred by res judicata.	Res judicata bars consideration; merger argument rejected.

State v. Reynolds, 79 Ohio St.3d 158 (1997) (post-conviction relief petition timing and standards)
State v. Saxon, 109 Ohio St.3d 176 (2006) (res judicata and waiver principles in post-conviction context)
State v. Hutton, 100 Ohio St.3d 176 (2003) (res judicata and claim preservation on direct appeal)
State v. Horton, 2013-Ohio-848 (9th Dist. Ohio) (bar on new merger argument under res judicata)