State v. Gondor

{¶ 1} The question presented in these two cases, consolidated sua sponte, is whether the court of appeals applied the correct standard of review when it reviewed de novo the trial court’s judgment granting the appellants’ petitions for postconviction relief. We hold that the court of appeals should have applied an abuse-of-discretion standard rather than a de novo standard in reviewing the trial court’s decisions on the two postconviction petitions. We therefore reverse the judgments of the court of appeals. Because we also hold that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it…