State v. Williams, 2012 Ohio 5873

Edward Williams was convicted by jury of four counts (two grand theft, two tampering with records) and sentenced to one year in prison with specified restitution.
Appeal followed after Williams’ death in prison; this court substituted counsel and continued the appeal as if he were alive.
Restitution: $36,023.87 to ODJFS and $64,900 to SSA were ordered.
The trial court’s voir dire potentially closed to the public; the record on actual spectators’ exclusion was inconclusive.
Several assignments of error challenged public-trial rights, allocution, restitution, and costs; other issues were deemed moot or resolved.
The court ultimately affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for further proceedings consistent with the opinion.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Public-voir-dire closure likely violated public-trial rights	Williams	Williams	No reversible error; no conclusive closure proved; structural error not established.
Counsel provided ineffective assistance for not objecting to closure	Williams	Williams	Absent proof of actual closure, no prejudice shown; claim rejected.
Right of allocution before sentencing was violated	Williams	Williams	Allocution satisfied; defendant afforded opportunities to speak.
Order of restitution violated by failure to consider ability to pay and by death of defendant	Williams	Williams	Restitution order sustained on plain-error grounds but remanded; death requires reconsideration; costs on remand.

Presley v. Georgia, 130 S. Ct. 721 (2010) (public trial right extends to voir dire)
Lane v. State, 60 Ohio St.2d 112 (1979) (public-trial right; voir dire)
Bethel v. State, 110 Ohio St.3d 416 (2006) (public-trial rights not waived by silence)
State v. Drummond, 111 Ohio St.3d 14 (2006) (structural error in closed courtroom; standard)
State v. Fry, 125 Ohio St.3d 163 (2010) (allocution; defendant personally addressed by court)
State v. Vickers, 2002-Ohio-3628 (2002) (allocution; court addressed defendant)