State v. Smith, 2014 Ohio 3420

Defendant Henry Smith was indicted on burglary, petty theft, criminal damaging, and attempted aggravated arson charges; jury convicted him of burglary, petty theft, and criminal damaging and acquitted on arson counts. Trial court sentenced him to an aggregate two years and imposed court costs and postrelease control.
Victim Shannon Goard (mother of defendant’s children) testified Smith was not living with her, had no key, and was not permitted in the house; she discovered a 32-inch TV and a Wii missing and a side window broken.
Two neighbors observed Smith drive by, park several houses down, walk to the back of Goard’s house with another man, heard breaking glass, and saw them carry a large, covered object out; one neighbor saw Smith carrying a bag with wires.
Police observed a tampered/forced side window and a pushed-in screen.
At a pretrial hearing Smith repeatedly complained his public defender did not communicate and requested new counsel; the court denied the request after counsel said discovery and strategy were discussed.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
1. Ineffective assistance of counsel	State: counsel fully met obligations; request for new counsel properly denied.	Smith: counsel failed to explain case, share discovery timely, and failed to move to waive costs.	Court: No deficient performance; even if deficient, no prejudice given overwhelming evidence; counsel not ineffective for not moving to waive costs.
2. Merger of allied offenses (burglary and petty theft)	State: burglary completed on unlawful entry with intent; theft is a separate act and mental state.	Smith: theft and burglary arose from same conduct and should merge.	Court: Offenses are separate — burglary completed upon unlawful entry with intent, theft occurred when items were taken; no merger.
3. Sufficiency of the evidence	State: testimony and neighbor observations suffice to prove burglary, theft, and damaging.	Smith: items could be his too (shared past living, purchases, vehicle); insufficient proof he stole or damaged property.	Court: Evidence, viewed in prosecution’s favor, was sufficient to support convictions beyond a reasonable doubt.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (establishes two-prong ineffective assistance standard)
State v. Bradley, 42 Ohio St.3d 136 (Ohio articulation of Strickland standard)
State v. Leonard, 104 Ohio St.3d 54 (sufficiency review standard quoting Jenks)
State v. Jenks, 61 Ohio St.3d 259 (standard for sufficiency of evidence in Ohio)
State v. White, 103 Ohio St.3d 580 (court costs assessed against convicted defendants; judge may waive for indigent)
State v. Threatt, 108 Ohio St.3d 277 (need to move for waiver of costs at sentencing to preserve issue)
State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (analysis for allied offenses/merger)
State v. Brown, 119 Ohio St.3d 447 (discussion of single-act/single-state-of-mind test for allied offenses)