State v. Williams, 2012 Ohio 6083

Christina Williams was convicted in the Fourth Appellate District of Ohio for multiple counts arising from the January 8, 2010 robbery and murders of Gary Markins, Sr. and Nina Mannering; the court issued a decision releasing 12/10/12.
She argues ineffective assistance of counsel for failing to move to suppress statements from a January 13, 2010 interrogation, claiming improper waiver of rights.
The prosecution showed Williams, Markins, Jr., Cecil Conley, and Roy planned to burglarize and rob Markins, Sr.; Mannering was present, and Conley killed the victims during the crime.
Williams testified at trial denying planning or participating in the crimes; the state introduced videotaped interviews with Mannering and Williams’ own incriminating statements.
The jury convicted Williams of two aggravated murders (for each victim) and additional offenses including aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery; the case questions merger of allied offenses and requires remand for sentencing consistent with Johnson v. State.
On appeal, the court overruled four assignments of error in part and remanded for resentencing on merger issues.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Ineffective assistance for suppression motion	Williams argues failure to suppress tainted statements.	State contends no prejudice from admission of statements.	No prejudice; conviction sustained.
Sufficiency of evidence for Mannering murder	The death was not reasonably foreseen; insufficient evidence.	Mannering’s death was a foreseeable consequence of the plan.	Not insufficient; death foreseeability supported.
Manifest weight of Mannering murder	Convictions against weight of the evidence.	Evidence supports the verdict.	Not against the weight of the evidence.
Allied offenses and merger for sentencing	Aggravated burglary/robbery should merge with aggravated murder.	Offenses could be committed with separate animus; merger unclear.	Remand for resentencing to apply Johnson analysis on merger.

Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (U.S. 1984) (established the ineffective-assistance standard)
State v. Bradley, 42 Ohio St.3d 136 (Ohio 1989) (two-prong Strickland standard applied in Ohio)
State v. Nields, 93 Ohio St.3d 6 (Ohio 2001) (no prejudice without reasonable probability of a different result)
State v. Osman, 2011-Ohio-4626 (Ohio 2011) (merger analysis and allied offenses context in Ohio)
State v. Abdi, 2011-Ohio-3550 (Ohio 2011) (articulation of Johnson analysis for allied offenses)
State v. Johnson, 128 Ohio St.3d 153 (Ohio 2010) (new test for allied offenses of similar import under 2941.25)
State v. Underwood, 2010-Ohio-1 (Ohio 2010) (plain-error review for failure to merge sentences)
Thompkins v. State, 78 Ohio St.3d 380 (Ohio 1997) (weight-of-the-evidence standard; rare reversal)