Ohio Supreme Court refuses to hear appeal of convicted killer who sought to withdraw

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear the appeal of a Cleveland man who attempted to back out of his guilty plea for a deadly shooting in 2019.

In a filing, the state’s high court indicated that it would not review the case of Anthony Balducci, who was sentenced to life in prison for the slaying of Michael May II. Balducci’s first chance of parole was set for 18 years.

In November 2020, the 8th Ohio District Court of Appeals upheld Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Deena Calabrese’s decision to reject Balducci’s attempt to withdraw his guilty plea. Balducci entered the plea in October 2019.

Balducci attempted to take the case to the Supreme Court in August. He appealed without an attorney.

Balducci agreed to a deal with prosecutors the day he was set to go to trial. In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped an aggravated murder charge that could have put him behind bars for the rest of his life.

He later attempted to back out of the plea, telling Calabrese, “I don’t feel that I should plead guilty to something I didn’t do…. I made a rash decision, your Honor, and I apologize.”

Calabrese held a hearing on the request. She noted that Balducci’s attorneys met with him a dozen times. She also noted that Balducci had admitted to charges in prior cases and wasn’t “new to the system.”

She later sentenced him to prison.

Prosecutors said Balducci and May, who knew each other, met in the checkout line at a Family Dollar about 1:30 p.m. Jan. 27, 2019. May left the store and walked toward his home along a route that took him onto the pedestrian footbridge over Interstate 77 on East 48th Street, near Chard Avenue, in the city’s Broadway-Slavic Village neighborhood.

Prosecutors said surveillance video captured Balducci at the pedestrian bridge minutes before and after May’s death. May, 33, was shot twice in the head and once in the body, according to court records.

Teenagers found May’s body a few hours later. Prosecutors indicated that Balducci’s clothes, which he was wearing in the video, tested positive for gunshot residue a few days later, records show.

Balducci is serving his sentence in the Grafton Correctional Institution. His first appearance before the Ohio Parole Board is in December 2036, according to the state prison records.