State v. Minniefield, Unpublished Decision (7-13-2001)
State v. Minniefield, Unpublished Decision (7-13-2001)
Opinion of the Court
In July 1999, appellant, Howard Minniefield, was indicted by the Erie County Grand Jury on twenty felony counts. Appellant pled not guilty and moved to suppress certain evidence. On April 13, 2000, pursuant to a plea agreement, appellant pled guilty to the following twelve counts: Count No. 2 — conspiracy to engage in a pattern of corrupt activity with firearm specification, in violation of R.C.
Appellant was sentenced to a total of seven years incarceration, with judicial release after the first five years, per the plea agreement. Appellant was permitted to delay the start of his incarceration until June 1, 2000. Appellant, however, failed to report on that day and a bench warrant was issued. Ultimately, he turned himself in to be transported.
On July 6 and 13, appellant filed a notice of appeal and an application for delayed appeal, respectively. In addition, appellant moved the trial court to withdraw his guilty pleas. On August 30, we granted appellant's motion for delayed appeal. On September 19, the trial court denied appellant's motion to withdraw his guilty pleas.
Appellant now appeals, setting forth the following three assignments of error:
"Assignment of Error No. 1
THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY ACCEPTING A GUILTY PLEA WHEN A MOTION TO SUPPRESS WAS STILL PENDING AND FAILED TO MAKE A DETERMINATION THAT THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE MOTION TO SUPPRESS WAS KNOWINGLY [SIC] INTELLIGENT AND VOLUNTARY.
"Assignment of Error No. 2
THE DEFENDANT WAS DENIED EFFECTIVE ASSISTANCE OF COUNSEL WHEN COUNSEL DID NOT PURSUE A MOTION TO SUPPRESS.
"Assignment of Error No. 3
THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY NOT GRANTING THE DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO WITHDRAW HIS PLEA."
A defendant who enters a guilty plea while represented by competent counsel waives any nonjurisdictional defects in earlier stages of the proceedings. State v. Place (1971),
In this case, appellant's plea was voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly made pursuant to a plea bargain in which the state agreed to dismiss eight of the twenty counts. Therefore, appellant waived any alleged errors in the prior proceedings, including any issues or evidence sought to be suppressed. Thus, the trial court did not err in accepting appellant's guilty plea without first ruling on the motion to suppress.
Accordingly, appellant's first assignment of error is not well-taken.
In order to prove ineffective assistance of counsel, a defendant must show 1) that defense counsel's representation fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and 2) that counsel's deficient representation was prejudicial to defendant's case. State v. Bradley (1989),
In this case, we determined that the trial court committed no error in accepting appellant's guilty plea prior to ruling on his motion to suppress. As a result, we cannot say that appellant's counsel was deficient for not objecting to the trial court's acceptance of the guilty plea. Therefore, appellant has failed to establish the first prong of theBradley/Strickland test for establishing ineffective assistance of counsel.
Accordingly, appellant's second assignment of error is not well-taken.
In the present case, appellant filed his motion to withdraw on August 18, 2000. On August 30, this court granted appellant's application for a delayed appeal. The trial court denied appellant's motion to withdraw his plea on September 19, 2000. Nothing in the record indicates that appellant requested us to remand this matter to the trial court for the purpose of ruling on this motion. Therefore, after the delayed appeal was granted as to the original conviction, the trial court lost jurisdiction over any matters which would affect our ability to "review, affirm, modify, or reverse" the final judgment on appeal. See In re Kurtzhalz (1943),
Accordingly, appellant's third assignment of error is not well-taken.
The decision of the Erie County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed. Court costs of this appeal are assessed to appellant.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to App.R. 27. See, also, 6th Dist.Loc.App.R. 4, amended 1/1/98.
Melvin L. Resnick, J.
James R. Sherck, J. and Richard W. Knepper, J. CONCUR.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.