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Appellate court rejects appeal from heroin dealer to withdraw pleas
ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News
Published: February 5, 2016
A Springfield man’s appeal from the judgment of the Clark County Court of Common Pleas was recently overruled when a court of appeals examined the case.
The opinion released by the 2nd District Court of Appeals upheld the denial of Keith Griffin’s postsentence motion to withdraw his no contest pleas on charges of trafficking in heroin and having weapons under disability.
The case against Griffin stemmed from an Oct. 21, 2013 search of his home during which Griffin was found to be in possession of more than 66 grams of heroin that was prepared for sale in several plastic baggies.
He also possessed instruments that were used in the preparation of the heroin for distribution, more than 23 grams of cocaine and two firearms.
At the time, Griffin was on postrelease control for prior offenses.
In December 2013, Griffin was charged via a bill of information with a forfeiture specification listing eight items including currency, handguns, three televisions and two vehicles.
One month later, Griffin waived an indictment and pleaded guilty to both charges against him, agreeing to forfeit all the property listed in the specification.
In exchange, the state agreed not to include a firearm specification or a possession of cocaine charge.
After determining that Griffin entered his pleas voluntarily and intelligently, the trial court sentenced a presentence investigation and Griffin’s counsel filed a sentencing memorandum that listed several mitigating factors, including that Griffin had cooperated with authorities and taken responsibility for his actions.
The defense also noted that Griffin had already been sentenced to nine months in prison for violating his postrelease control.
The state’s sentencing memorandum, however, highlighted Griffin’s criminal history, noting that he had spent approximately nine of the past 13 years in prison.
Ultimately, the trial court sentenced Griffin to a total of nine years in prison, to be served consecutively to the prison sentence imposed for the postrelease control violation.
Griffin did not appeal from that judgment but waited approximately seven months to file a motion to withdraw his pleas.
In that motion, he asked the trial court to modify his nine-year sentence because he had received ineffective assistance of counsel.
According to Griffin, his attorney did not properly “allocute his sentence” or argue in mitigation that his offenses were due to a drug dependency.
Appealing from the trial court’s denial of that motion, Griffin again pointed to the ineffectiveness of his counsel as the reason he should have been allowed to withdraw his pleas.
“Upon review of the record, we find no arguable basis for a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel in connection with Griffin’s plea,” Judge Froelich wrote for the court of appeals. “The transcript of the plea hearing reflects that the trial court conducted a thorough hearing under Crim. 11.”
The three-judge appellate panel pointed out that, at that hearing, Griffin expressed that he was satisfied with his counsel.
With regard to Griffin’s claim that his attorney was deficient for failing to argue on his behalf, the court of appeals turned to the sentencing memorandum that counsel submitted on his behalf and to the transcript of the sentencing hearing, during which counsel advocated on Griffin’s behalf.
“Yes, he does have a significant criminal history, and I think what best summarizes the nature of his behavior ... he tries to get out, tries to do well, and can’t get employment because of his prior criminal history and falls back into the same pattern again,” the attorney stated.
Counsel went on to state that Griffin cooperated with authorities and declined to turn other drug dealers in out of concern for the safety of his family.
Considering the evidence that Griffin’s attorney did argue in favor of Griffin, the court of appeals concluded that it could find no merit to Griffin’s appeal.
“The trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying Griffin’s postsentence motion to withdraw his guilty plea,” Froelich wrote.
Presiding Judge Mary Donovan and Judge Mike Fain concurred.
The case is cited State v. Griffin, 2016-Ohio-229.