Case Title: State v. Higgins

Citation: 1996-Ohio-18

Docket Number: 19951892

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 1996-01-31T00:00:00Z

Document:
The State of Ohio, Appellee, v. Higgins, Appellant. 
[Cite as State v. Higgins (1996), _____ Ohio St.3d _____.] 
Appellate procedure -- Application for reopening appeal from 
judgment and conviction based on claim of ineffective 
assistance of appellate counsel -- Application denied when no 
genuine issue indicating ineffective assistance of appellate 
counsel exists. 
 
(No. 95-1892--Submitted November 14, 1995--Decided January 31, 
1996.) 
 
Appeal from the Court of Appeals for Montgomery Count, No. 
14335. 
 
Appellant, Valerie Higgins, pled no contest to aggravated trafficking 
in cocaine over one hundred times the bulk amount and was found guilty 
and sentenced to fifteen years to life imprisonment, as required by R.C. 
2925.03(C)(9).  Upon appeal, appellant’s counsel filed an Anders [Anders v. 
California (1967), 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493] brief 
“asserting an inability to find any possibly meritorious issues for appellate 
review.”  The court of appeals gave appellant the opportunity to file a pro se 
brief, but she did not do so.  The court of appeals then affirmed the 
 
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conviction, agreeing with counsel that there were no meritorious issues.  
State v. Higgins (Dec. 14, 1994), Montgomery App. No. 14335, unreported. 
 
Subsequently, appellant filed an application to reopen her appeal 
under App.R. 26(B).  She claimed ineffective assistance of appellate 
counsel for failing “to argue that her plea of no contest was defective for the 
reason that the trial court failed to advise her that the minimum period of 
incarceration of fifteen years was required to be served as actual 
incarceration.”  The court then examined the transcript; found that the trial 
court had informed appellant of the maximum period of incarceration, as 
required by Crim.R. 11(C)(2), and that appellant and her counsel had 
executed an entry of waiver and plea that stated that the minimum term of 
incarceration was fifteen years of actual incarceration; and denied the 
application to reopen.  Appellant appeals to this court. 
 
Mathias H. Heck, Jr., Montgomery County Prosecuting Attorney, and 
Carley J. Ingram, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. 
 
Valerie Higgins, pro se. 
 
Per Curiam.  Having examined the same portions of the record as the 
court of appeals, we come to the same conclusion.  The trial court advised 
 
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appellant of the maximum term of incarceration, as required by Crim.R. 
11(C)(2), and appellant and her counsel executed the entry of waiver and 
plea, which stated the period of actual incarceration.  Accordingly, there is 
no genuine issue indicating ineffective assistance of appellate counsel, and 
the judgment of the court of appeals is affirmed. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, WRIGHT, RESNICK, F.E. SWEENEY, PFEIFER 
and COOK, JJ., concur.