COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO, EIGHTH DISTRICT COUNTY OF CUYAHOGA NO. 61335 STATE OF OHIO : : Plaintiff-appellee : : JOURNAL ENTRY vs. : and : OPINION CLINTON WHEELER : : Defendant-appellant : : : DATE OF ANNOUNCEMENT OF DECISION : NOVEMBER 5, 1992 CHARACTER OF PROCEEDING : Criminal appeal from : Court of Common Pleas : Case No. CR-206,192 JUDGMENT : AFFIRMED. DATE OF JOURNALIZATION : _______________________ APPEARANCES: For plaintiff-appellee: STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES Cuyahoga County Prosecutor KAREN L. JOHNSON, Assistant Justice Center, Courts Tower 1200 Ontario Street Cleveland, Ohio 44113 For defendant-appellant: CLINTON WHEELER, pro se MCI #197-057 2075 South Avon Beldon Road Grafton, Ohio 44044 - 2 - FRANCIS E. SWEENEY, J.: Defendant-appellant Clinton Wheeler timely appeals the trial court's denial of his petition to vacate sentence and set aside judgment. For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court. Appellant was indicted for aggravated murder on March 14, 1986. Appellant pled guilty to the lesser included offense of murder (R.C. 2903.02) on June 2, 1987 and was sentenced to a term of fifteen years to life in prison. No direct appeal of his con- viction was taken. On April 6, 1990, appellant filed a petition to vacate sentence and set aside judgment, alleging that his plea was involuntary and that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because counsel did not present an insanity defense. On January 15, 1991, an evidentiary hearing was held on the appel- lant's petition. Thereafter, the trial court denied the petition and issued findings of fact and conclusions of law. Appellant now timely appeals, raising two assignments of error for our review. ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR I APPELLANT'S GUILTY PLEA WAS NOT MADE IN A KNOWINGLY, INTELLIGENTLY AND VOLUNTARY MANNER AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ACCEPTED BY THE TRIAL COURT. THE COURT DID NOT FULLY DETER- MINE THAT APPELLANT WAS ENTERING HIS PLEA WITH UNDERSTANDING OF THE NATURE OF THE CHAR- GE NOR DID THE COURT DETERMINE THAT APPEL- LANT UNDERSTOOD THE EFFECT OF HIS PLEA OF GUILTY: THUS VIOLATING APPELLANT'S RIGHTS AS - 2 - DEFINED UNDER THE 14TH AMENDMENT OF THE UNIT- ED STATES CONSTITUTION, TO DUE PROCESS AND EQUAL PROTECTION AND RENDERING THE PLEA AND SENTENCE VOID OR VOIDABLE. ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR II OHIO LAW PROVIDES FOR VACATING OR SETTING ASIDE ANY JUDGMENT OF CONVICTION WHERE THE CONVICTION IS BASED UPON CIRCUMSTANCES EVINC- ING "SUCH A DENIAL OF INFRINGMENT (sic.) OF A DEFENDANT'S RIGHTS UNDER THE OHIO OR THE UNI- TED STATES CONSTITUTIONS" AS TO RENDER THE JUDGMENT VOID OR VOIDABLE. Appellant contends the trial court erred in denying his petition to vacate sentence and set aside judgment on the ground that his plea was involuntary and that counsel was ineffective because he failed to raise the insanity defense. This court is unable to reach the merits of appellant's assignments of error since the trial court record does not contain a transcript of the evidence adduced at the post-conviction relief hearing held on January 15, 1991. An appellant has the duty to exemplify any alleged errors by reference to matters in the record. Knapp v. Edwards Laboratories (1980), 61 Ohio St.2d 197, 199. This duty may be discharged by the filing of a verbatim transcript pursuant to App. R. 9(B), a narrative statement of the evidence as pro- vided in App. R. 9(C), or an agreed statement of the record filed pursuant to App. R. 9(D). Absent any exemplified error, a re- viewing court has no choice but to presume regularity in the proceedings of the trial court and affirm. Id. Accordingly, Assignments of Error I and II are not well taken and are over- ruled. - 3 - Judgment affirmed. It is ordered that appellee recover of appellant its costs herein taxed. The Court finds there were reasonable grounds for this ap- peal. It is ordered that a special mandate issue out of this Court directing the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas to carry this judgment into execution. The defendant's conviction having been affirmed, any bail pending appeal is terminated. Case remanded to the trial court for execution of sentence. A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure. DAVID T. MATIA, C.J. BLACKMON, J. CONCUR JUDGE FRANCIS E. SWEENEY N.B. This entry is made pursuant to the third sentence of Rule 22(D), Ohio Rules of Appellate Procedure. This is an announce- ment of decision (see Rule 26). Ten (10) days from the date hereof, this document will be stamped to indicate journalization, at which time it will become the judgment and order of the court and time period for review will begin to run. .