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Date: 01-27-2021
Case Style:
STATE OF OHIO v. DEJANAE LEECHE DORSEY
Case Number: 28754
Judge: Jeffrey M. Welbaum
Court: IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO
SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Plaintiff's Attorney: ANDREW T. FRENCH
Defendant's Attorney:
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Description:
Dayton, OH - Criminal defense attorney represented Dejanae Leeche Dorsey with one count of improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony, one count of aggravated menacing, a first-degree misdemeanor, and one count of assault, also a first-degree misdemeanor charges.
On April 10, 2019, Dorsey entered into a plea agreement with the State and
pled guilty to improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle. In exchange for Dorsey’s
guilty plea, the State agreed to dismiss the two remaining charges. After conducting a
Crim.R. 11 plea colloquy, the trial court accepted Dorsey’s guilty plea as knowingly,
intelligently, and voluntarily entered.
{¶ 3} Approximately one month later, Dorsey pled guilty to felonious assault in
Montgomery C.P. No. 2018-CR-4041. In negotiating that plea, Dorsey and the State
agreed that if Dorsey pled guilty to felonious assault, she would receive no more than five
years in prison for that offense and for the improperly handling a firearm offense in the
instant case. As a result of that global resolution, both cases were sentenced together
on June 11, 2019. The trial court sentenced Dorsey to five years in prison for the
felonious assault and 18 months in prison for improperly handling a firearm in a motor
vehicle, to be served concurrently for a total term of five years in prison.
{¶ 4} Three days after sentencing, Dorsey filed a motion to withdraw her guilty plea
-3-
in Case No. 2018-CR-4041. Dorsey did not file a similar motion in the instant case and
never requested to withdraw her guilty plea to the charge of improperly handling a firearm
in a motor vehicle. At the hearing on Dorsey’s motion to withdraw her guilty plea, the
trial court confirmed that the motion only pertained to Case No. 2018-CR-4041. See
Motion to Withdraw Plea Hearing Trans., p. 4 and 55. Despite this, the trial court’s order
overruling Dorsey’s motion to withdraw guilty plea was filed in both this case and in Case
No. 2018-CR-4041. As a result, Dorsey filed notices of appeal in both cases when she
appealed from the trial court’s order.
{¶ 5} In proceeding with the appeals, Dorsey’s appellate counsel filed briefs under
the authority of Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967),
asserting the absence of any non-frivolous issues for appeal. The Anders briefs in both
cases are identical and raise the single issue of whether the trial court abused its
discretion in overruling Dorsey’s motion to withdraw her guilty plea in Case No. 2018-CR4041.
Outcome: Because that judgment only pertains to Case No. 2018-CR-4041, and because
Dorsey never moved to withdraw her guilty plea in the instant case, there is no judgment for this court to review on appeal. Dorsey’s appeal in Case No. 2018-CR-2032 is therefore dismissed.
Plaintiff's Experts:
Defendant's Experts:
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