State v. Sanchez , 2022 Ohio 2721 ( 2022 )

[Cite as State v. Sanchez, 2022-Ohio-2721.]
IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO
THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT
PAULDING COUNTY
STATE OF OHIO,
PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, CASE NO. 11-22-02
v.
LAURO C. SANCHEZ, JR., OPINION
DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.
Appeal from Paulding County Common Pleas Court
Trial Court No. CR-20-563
Judgment Reversed and Cause Remanded
Date of Decision: August 8, 2022
APPEARANCES:
Howard A. Elliott for Appellant
Joseph R. Burkard for Appellee
Case No. 11-22-02
SHAW, J.
{¶1} Defendant-Appellant, Lauro C. Sanchez, Jr. (“Appellant”), appeals the
January 7, 2022 judgment of the Paulding County Common Pleas Court sentencing
him for one count of assault, in violation of R.C. 2903.13(A)(C)(5)(a), after
Appellant pled no contest and was found guilty.
Relevant Factual Background
{¶2} On June 12, 2020, Appellant was charged in a two-count indictment
with the offenses of assault, a fourth degree felony, and escape, a third degree
felony. Appellant initially pleaded not guilty to the charges. However, on
November 9, 2021, Appellant appeared for a change-of-plea hearing. Pursuant to
plea bargain arrangements, Appellant was to plead no contest to the assault charge
in exchange for the State’s dismissal of the escape charge. The trial court held a
brief colloquy with Appellant, explaining the charge and maximum penalty, and the
rights he would give up by virtue of his plea of no contest. The trial court then
accepted Appellant’s plea of no contest, found him guilty, and ordered a presentence
investigation and set the matter for sentencing.
{¶3} At the sentencing hearing, the trial court imposed a sentence of twelve
months in prison.
{¶4} Appellant now appeals, raising four areas of argument with the trial
court’s judgment. Although the Table of Contents to the brief refers to a listing of
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assignments of error and issues presented for review, no assignments of error are
actually set forth in the Table of Contents or anywhere else in Appellant’s brief. As
a result, this Court is left to deduce the Assignments of Error solely from the
arguments in the brief, which are segregated into four separate sections of the brief,
captioned solely as “Assignment of Error One,” “Two,” “Third,” and “Fourth”
without elaboration, and to a lesser extent the response brief of the State, which is
similarly divided into four sections and captioned the same way. This is in direct
violation of App.R. 16 and Loc.R. 7, which set forth the rules on briefs. More
importantly, it significantly impacts the efficacy of this Court’s ruling in that it
essentially forces this Court to state and rule upon “assignments of error” that this
Court has formulated and not the Appellant.
{¶5} Nevertheless, in the interest of judicial efficiency, these omissions take
on less significance because in this instance our review of the record discloses plain
error on its face as to Appellant’s no contest plea. To quote from Appellant’s brief,
the last sentence of his first argument states that: “In light of the lack of the court’s
substantial compliance with the requirements of the rule [Crim.R. 11(B)(2)], the
conviction must be reversed.” (Appellant’s Brief at 8).
{¶6} Crim.R. 11(B)(2), regarding the effect of a no contest plea, provides:
“The plea of no contest is not an admission of defendant’s guilt, but is an admission
of the truth of the facts alleged in the indictment, information, or complaint, and the
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plea or admission shall not be used against the defendant in any subsequent civil or
criminal proceeding.” Thus, Crim.R. 11(C)(2)(b) clearly specifies that in felony
cases, a trial court “shall” not accept a no contest plea without addressing the
defendant personally and informing him of and determining that he understood “the
effect of the plea of no contest.”
{¶7} The right to be informed of the effect of a no contest plea is non-
constitutional and therefore is subject to review under a substantial-compliance
standard. State v. Clark, 119 Ohio St.3d 239, 2008-Ohio-3748, ¶ 31. However, if
a trial court completely fails to comply with the notification requirement, the plea
must be vacated and a prejudice analysis is not necessary. Id. at ¶ 32.
{¶8} In this case, although the State concedes the trial court did not inform
Appellant that the no contest plea “shall not be used against the defendant in any
subsequent civil or criminal proceeding,” the trial court also did not inform him the
plea is an admission of the truth of the facts alleged in the indictment. Moreover,
contrary to recitals in the trial court’s entry, a review of the change-of-plea hearing
transcript demonstrates at no time during the plea proceeding did the trial court
address the Appellant and inform him of either of the aforementioned effects of the
plea he was entering.
{¶9} Based upon the foregoing, we find merit to Appellant’s argument that
his plea must be vacated because the trial court completely failed to comply with
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Crim.R. 11(C)(2)(b) and (B)(2). Cf. State v. Blair, 3d Dist. Paulding Nos. 11-20-01
and 11-20-02, 2021-Ohio-266, ¶ 17 (no complete failure to comply evident on the
record). Any other arguments are moot.
{¶10} Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is reversed, Appellant’s
plea is vacated, and this case is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings.
Judgment Reversed and
Cause Remanded
MILLER and WILLAMOWSKI, J.J., concur.
/jlr
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