Ohio Criminal Appeals Lawyer Blog

Senate Candidate Indicted in Dayton

2010-08-31T22:00:59Z

Senate Candidate Eric W. Deaton was indicted for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor as you can read here.

Woman charged with burning her own home.

2010-08-31T20:13:10Z

Nancy F. Skinner of Beavercreek, Ohio, was charged with aggravated arson in Greene County. She is accused of torching her Beavercreek home at 3476 Plantation Place as you can read here.

Dayton Police Violated the Fourth Amendment

2010-08-30T21:38:16Z

Dayton criminal defense lawyer Vic Hodge of the Montgomery County Public Defender's Office successfully argued on appeal that Dayton police violated his client's rights under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States when they initiated an "investigatory detention" on a car without "a reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity to warrant an investigatory detention under Terry." Dayton cops did a "Terry stop" on a car parked in the area of West Hillcrest and Salem Avenue in Dayton, Ohio, because they were checking on a report of a woman in a green shirt that appeared to be ill. They found a woman in a green shirt who did not appear ill, but who appeared to be arguing with someone in the parked car. With guns drawn, the police started barking orders at these citizens. It turns out the dude in the back seat had a gun that he hid under the driver's seat once police showed up. But the Dayton aw enforcement officers jumped the gun and violated the dude's Fourth Amendment Rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and so his motion to suppress should have been granted by Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Connie S. Price as you can read here.

Beatty-Jones Convicted, Sentenced

2010-08-30T15:59:56Z

Montgomery County Judge Michael L. Tucker sentenced Christopher Beatty-Jones to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 28 years after he was convicted of shooting two security guards, William St. Peter and James C. Locker. The security guards were working at the Western Manor apartments on James H. McGee Boulevard when Beatty-Jones shot them on March 30. Dayton lawyer Doug Hess argued self defense on the defendant's behalf. Read Lou Grieco's blog on the case in the Dayton Daily News here.

Conviction Reversed & Vacated

2010-08-27T21:52:30Z

A Trotwood, Ohio, neighbor was convicted of criminal mischief in violation of R.C. 2909.07(A)(1) because he wrote a note on an 8x10 piece of paper, placed it on top of his neighbor's trash container, and covered it with a stick so the note would not blow away. The neighbors got the note which was less than flattering and of course they contacted the cops. The neighbor who left the note was charged with criminal mischief which required that he "move, deface, damage, destroy, or otherwise improperly tamper with the property of another." He was found guilty by Judge James L. Manning at a bench trial. But the Second District Court of Appeals reversed and vacated the conviction because they agreed with me that leaving a piece of paper on top of a trash container does not qualify as criminal mischief as you can read here.

Man killed in his home by intruders

2010-08-26T20:32:18Z

A Fairfield Township man was shot and killed in his home. Joe D. Angelo Patterson, II, was shot and killed in his home by two intruders but his wife and three children were not hurt. Read the story here.

Miko's Spa and Tokyo Health Spa hit by Law Enforcement

2010-08-26T18:00:20Z

Looks like some gentlemen will have to go elsewhere for their "massage" for a while. Several arrests were made in Springfield, Ohio, at Miko's Spa and Tokyo Health Spa as you can read here. It took Law Enforcement two years to probe this one. But it looks like there may be a history of reviews on these two places on the internet. The arrests were made for prostitution, promoting prostitution and soliciting. All are presumed innocent at this point.

Final Appealable Orders and the "one document" rule

2010-08-26T00:26:44Z

The Ohio Supreme Court held in State v. Baker, 2008-Ohio-3330, that a final appealable order had to contain what the conviction was based upon, the sentence, and the judge's signature and they all had to be in one document that the clerk of the court had to enter upon the journal. But today the Ohio Supreme Court pointed out in State v. Ketterer, 2010-Ohio-3831, that State v. Baker only applies to non-capital cases. In aggravated-murder cases subject to R.C. 2929.03(F) (which requires the court to file a separate sentencing entry), the final appealable order can consist of more than one document - the sentencing opinion and the judgment of conviction. Read the decision here or review the oral argument here.

Cause of Interstate 675 Crash Undetermined

2010-08-24T16:05:57Z

Police have not determined why 19 year old Brennan Eden crashed his Pontiac Firebird on I 675 on Monday August 23, 2010. He had just been released from the custody of the Beavercreek Police 20 minutes before the crash. They took him into custody and released him near the intersection of Beaver Vu Drive and North Fairfield Road. Read the story and watch the horrific crash into the Wagner Road overpass here.

Dayton police not justified in conducting pat-down

2010-08-20T23:28:57Z

On May 10, 2009, Amy Habel got onto her bicycle in front of a "known drug house" in a "high crime" area known for illegal drugs in Dayton, Ohio. A Dayton City Ordnance prohibits riding bicycles on the sidewalks and a violation of that is a minor misdemeanor. Amy rode her bike on the sidewalk. This gave Dayton police a reason to stop her. Amy did not have her identification on her. Instead of asking for her name, social security number, and date of birth, the Dayton police put her into the back of their police cruiser for their convenience until they determined her identity. This gave the officers an excuse to conduct a pat-down or frisk her for weapons. During the frisk, the police found illegal drugs. Montgomery County Common Pleas Judge Frances H. McGee sustained Amy's motion to suppress the drugs because the police had no justification to conduct the pat-down search. The Second District Court of Appeals for Montgomery County, Ohio, affirmed that decision as you can read here.

Pet sitter did not have "common authority" over home

2010-08-20T15:34:34Z

A Wood County woman was going on a trip. She recruited a couple of people to feed her cats while she was away. One of them was a "friend" of the woman. He was supposed to enter the home to give the cats food and water. The woman also asked him to turn off a light at the top of the stairs and he went upstairs to do so. In the upstairs bathroom he saw what he believed to be illegal drugs. So he called the police and "consented" to their entry into the house. The police did not get a warrant initially and entered because they believed that the pet sitters had authority to consent to the search by police. The trial court overruled defendant's motion to suppress the drugs. The Sixth District Court of Appeals reversed the trial court because the pet sitter did not have the authority to consent to the entry and search by police officers. Read the decision in State v. Huntington, 2010-Ohio-3922, here.

Lose your appeal? There is still hope!

2010-08-20T14:41:13Z

Besides appealing to the Ohio Supreme Court and/or doing an application for reconsideration in the Court of Appeals, Ohio Appellate Rule 26(B) allows you to file an "application for reopening" your appeal "within ninety days from journalization of the appellate judgment unless the applicant shows good cause for filing at a later time." You argue in the application that your appellate counsel provided ineffective assistance of counsel on appeal when she failed to raise winning arguments (assuming there are any). App. R. 26(B)(5) states that "[a]n application for reopening shall be granted if there is a genuine issue as to whether the applicant was deprived of the effective assistance of counsel on appeal." Common sense would tell you to carefully read the appellate rules and hire an experienced criminal appeals lawyer. If you decide that is me, contact me by completing the Contact Me form on the Contact Me page.

Reverend Raleigh Trammell says he's "not guilty" of "taking any money"

2010-08-18T16:56:43Z

According to the Dayton Daily news article you can read by clicking here, Reverend Raleigh Trammell says he is not guilty of taking any taxpayer money. He pleaded guilty to a city property code violation today. The Reverend also told the Dayton Daily news that he expects to be killed.

Plain Error in Verdict Form

2010-08-13T12:55:24Z

Assault is usually a first degree misdemeanor and the maximum penalty would be 180 days in jail and a 1,000 dollar fine. Assault is sometimes elevated to a fifth degree felony for which the maximum penalty is 12 months in prison and a 2,500 dollar fine. But for a conviction on an enhanced level of assault to hold up, the verdict form has to indicate that the jury found the defendant guilty of a fifth degree felony assault or it needs to state the additional element(s) that elevate it from a first degree misdemeanor. In a Scioto County case, the verdict form only stated we "find the defendant guilty of assault." Well, since assault is an M1 and the jury verdict did not indicate that the jury found the defendant guilty of a F5 or any facts that would make the assault a F5 in this case, the Fourth District Court of Appeals reversed the conviction for the F5 and remanded to the trial court with instructions to enter a conviction for a M1. Read the decision here.

Conviction for intimidation in violation of R.C. 2921.04(B) vacated

2010-08-12T22:01:24Z

The Eighth District Court of Appeals for Cuyahoga County explained that an indictment informs the accused of the charged crime so she can prepare a defense. The Appellate Court further explained that "where a defendant is charged with intimidation of a 'victim of a crime,' an essential element of the charge is that the underlying crime occurred and thus created a victim" and it found that the defendant "is entitled to notice of the predicate crime in the indictment." In State v. Muniz, 2010-Ohio-3720, the State failed to include the predicate offense in the indictment and "the record [was] unclear as to the nature of the predicate offense." The Court of Appeals found the indictment was defective from the outset and fatal to the defendant's conviction because it did not give notice of the predicate offense. And the problem was not cured by the presentation of "some evidence at trial of the acts constituting a predicate offense." Read the decision here.