State v. Martin

485 N.E.2d 717 · Ohio Court of Appeals · 1983

Facts

Jimmie Martin drove a car from which Robert Davis forcibly took Folirabell Allen's purse. The driver assisted in pulling the purse from Allen's grasp before speeding away. Grant Campbell witnessed the robbery, followed the car, and recorded its license number. Police identified Martin's wife as the owner and questioned Martin. Martin gave a taped statement admitting he drove Davis, who snatched the purse, and then drove away. Later, Martin testified he didn't see the snatching and claimed police coerced his taped confession by threatening to jail his wife.

Procedural history

The appeal is from the defendant's conviction in a bench trial for complicity in the offense of robbery. The case reached this court on appeal from that conviction.

Issue

The principal issue is whether defendant Jimmie Martin received effective assistance of counsel, as required by the Sixth Amendment. This question arises because his attorney failed to file a motion to suppress Martin's statement to the police, which Martin claimed was coerced and involuntary.

Holding

The court concluded that defendant's constitutional rights were not violated. It held that defense counsel did not substantially violate any essential duty to the defendant. The judgment of conviction was affirmed.

Rule

The test for effective assistance of counsel involves two steps: first, whether there was a substantial violation of any of defense counsel’s essential duties, and second, whether the defense was prejudiced by counsel’s ineffectiveness. Counsel is presumed competent and can reasonably decide that filing a motion to suppress would be futile. In this case, counsel's decision was reasonable because the taped statement included defendant's two concessions of voluntariness, the officer denied threats, and the statement was consistent with other evidence. Therefore, the court found no substantial violation of counsel's duty.

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