State v. White, 2019 Ohio 1159

Trevor P. White pleaded guilty (Jan. 30, 2017) to multiple felonies including murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary, aggravated arson, tampering with evidence, breaking and entering, abuse of a corpse, involuntary manslaughter, and RICO-like corruption; firearm specifications accompanied several charges.
The trial court sentenced White to 18 years to life. He did not appeal that sentence.
On February 23, 2018, White filed a post-sentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea under Crim.R. 32.1, relying exclusively on this court’s prior decision in State v. Kubisen.
The trial court denied White’s motion; White appealed that denial to the Ninth District Court of Appeals.
White’s sole argument was that Kubisen required reversal because it narrowly defined the form of “a plea of guilty” under Crim.R. 11(C), and his plea purportedly did not meet that form.
The Ninth District reversed course on Kubisen’s interpretation as too narrow, declined to apply Kubisen to permit plea withdrawal here, and affirmed the trial court’s denial of White’s motion.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court abused its discretion by denying White’s Crim.R. 32.1 motion to withdraw his guilty plea based solely on this court’s decision in Kubisen	White: Kubisen requires a specific verbal form of “a plea of guilty” under Crim.R. 11(C); his plea did not satisfy that form so withdrawal is warranted	State: Kubisen misinterpreted Crim.R. 11(C); the rule does not mandate the narrow verbal-form requirement Kubisen announced, and White’s motion fails for relying solely on Kubisen	The court overruled Kubisen’s narrow reading, held Crim.R. 11(C) does not limit the form of “a plea of guilty” as Kubisen stated, and affirmed denial of White’s motion

State v. Veney, 897 N.E.2d 621 (Ohio 2008) (Crim.R. 11(C) prescribes procedure and required colloquy before accepting a felony plea)
Westfield Ins. Co. v. Galatis, ? (Ohio 2003) (courts should correct prior erroneous appellate precedent)