Opinion ID: 775550
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Petitioner's Direct Appeal

Text: 14 On direct appeal to the Ohio Court of Appeals, Petitioner raised two assignments of error. First, he maintained that various actions of the prosecutor, including the rebuttal argument regarding the reliability of DNA testing, constituted misconduct that denied him a fair trial. Second, Hinkle argued that his counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to object to the prosecutor's remarks during rebuttal. 2 15 Addressing the prosecutorial misconduct claim first, the appellate court held that it could review only for plain error under Ohio law because defense counsel had failed to lodge a contemporaneous objection to the prosecutor's argument in rebuttal. Under the plain error standard, the Ohio Court of Appeals analyzed each of Hinkle's claims of misconduct and concluded that, even where the prosecutor's comments constituted error, that error did not rise to the level of undue prejudice or meet the exacting standard necessary to excuse the failure of Hinkle's counsel to object to the prosecutor's rebuttal argument. Therefore, the Ohio Court of Appeals overruled this assignment of error. 16 With respect to the ineffective assistance of counsel claim, the Ohio Court of Appeals reviewed under the standard announced in State v. Bradley, 538 N.E.2d 373, 379-80 (Ohio 1989), the Ohio analog to Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). Having found no prejudice to Hinkle from the prosecutor's statements, the court then applied the Bradley/Strickland standard and rejected Petitioner's ineffective assistance of counsel claim, insofar as it related to the failure to object to the prosecutor's closing argument, since he could not show prejudice. 3 17 When the Ohio Court of Appeals denied Petitioner's motion for reconsideration, Hinkle petitioned the Ohio Supreme Court for review. In a brief order dated January 21, 1998, the Ohio Supreme Court denied leave to appeal and dismisse[d] the appeal as not involving any substantial constitutional question.