[Cite as State v. Leon, 2019-Ohio-1178.] IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SIXTH APPELLATE DISTRICT HURON COUNTY State of Ohio Court of Appeals No. H-18-018 Appellee Trial Court No. CRI 93 0620 v. Josefino Alvaro Leon DECISION AND JUDGMENT Appellant Decided: March 29, 2019 ***** James James Sitterly, Huron County Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee. Richard H. Drucker, for appellant. ***** OSOWIK, J. {¶ 1} This is an accelerated appeal from a judgment of the Huron County Court of Common Pleas which denied appellant’s motion to vacate his 1994 guilty pleas. For the reasons set forth below, this court affirms the judgment of the trial court. {¶ 2} Appellant set forth three assignments of error: I. The trial court erred in denying Defendant/Appellant’s Motion to Withdraw His Guilty Plea pursuant to O.R.C. 2943.031 solely on the basis of timeliness. The trial court conceded that no record exists in this matter that demonstrates that the defendant/appellant was properly advised pursuant to O.R.C. 2943.031. II. The trial court erred in denying the Defendant/Appellant’s Motion to Withdraw His Guilty Plea pursuant to O.R.C. 2943.031 and not considering the holding set forth in the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Padilla v. Kentucky which should be applied retroactively. III. The trial court erred in denying the Defendant/Appellant’s Motion to Withdraw His Guilty Plea pursuant to O.R.C. 2943.031 and not considering the factors set forth in Crim.R. 32.1. I. Statement of Facts {¶ 3} This appeal was triggered by a trial court judgment in 2018, but stems from events in 1993. On August 30, 1993, the Norwalk Police Department filed three criminal complaints against appellant Josefino Alvaro Leon, a.k.a. Josefino Leon Herrera, in Norwalk Municipal Court that were bound over to a Huron County Grand Jury. The grand jury indicted appellant on three counts of trafficking in marijuana, each a violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1) and each a felony in the fourth degree. Since September 1, 1993, the municipal court and then the common pleas court, at appellant’s request, appointed counsel from the Huron County Public Defender’s office and a Spanish interpreter due to his indigency and his assertion he “knows very little or no English.” 2. {¶ 4} At the November 1, 1993 arraignment, appellant entered not guilty pleas to all three counts. Discovery ensued, and on January 5, 1994, the trial court held a hearing on appellant’s change of pleas from not guilty to guilty to two counts with the third count dismissed. After 24 years the record no longer contained a transcript of the plea hearing. However, the record contained the trial court’s January 7, 1994 journalized entry of the plea hearing, in which the trial court identified appellant was present with his counsel, but did not specifically identify, for example, the exact dialogue of the proceedings nor the presence of the Spanish interpreter. The trial court’s entry stated appellant was advised that each of the offenses to which he proposed to plead guilty were punishable by definite prison terms from a minimum ...
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