State v. DeFronzo

394 N.E.2d 1027, 59 Ohio Misc. 113, 13 Ohio Op. 3d 337, 1978 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 95
CourtLucas County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedSeptember 29, 1978
DocketNo. CR 76-6076
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 394 N.E.2d 1027 (State v. DeFronzo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Lucas County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. DeFronzo, 394 N.E.2d 1027, 59 Ohio Misc. 113, 13 Ohio Op. 3d 337, 1978 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 95 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1978).

Opinion

Pietrykowski, J.

Before the court is the defendant’s petition for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence, violation of due process of the law, infringement by the State of Ohio on the integrity of the court, and misconduct by a state’s witness. After hearing oral arguments and the evidence presented by both sides, and considering memoranda of law by the parties, the court has reached the following conclusions.

Facts

On May 18, 1976, two Toledo Metropolitan Drug Unit Agents, with the assistance of uniformed members of the Toledo Police Department, entered the office of Nicholas R. DeFronzo, M. D., to serve an arrest warrant. A search of the defendant incident to his arrest produced, inter alia, a tinfoil packet allegedly containing cocaine, a loaded pistol and several prescription slips. Some of the prescriptions were partially filled out while others were completed. The defendant was subsequently indicted on a fourteen count indictment by the Lucas County Grand' Jury.

The first count of the indictment charged the defendant with possession of a narcotic drug in violation of B. C. 3719.09. The second count of the indictment charged the defendant with carrying a concealed weapon in violation of B. C. 2923.12. The third through the fourteenth counts of the indictment charged the defendant with having made illegal prescriptions in violation of R. C. 3719.171.

After certain pre-trial motion hearings were conducted, the trial was heard by a jhry. On May 12, 1977, after four days of trial, the defendant was found guilty on each of the fourteen counts.

DeFronzo was ultimately sentenced to serve from nine to forty-five years in prison and ordered to pay fines totaling $25,000.

■ Certain expert testimony was offered at trial to show [115]*115the chemical make-up of the material found1 in the possession of the defendant, the operability of the weapon found in the possession of the defendant, and the analysis of the handwriting on the prescription slips found in possession of the defendant.

Sergeant Richard Zielinski, of the Toledo Police Department Crime Laboratory, testified at the trial. In testifying on behalf of the state of Ohio, Zielinski purported to qualify himself as an expert in drug analysis by stating under oath that he had a four year Bachelors Degree in Pharmacy from the University of Toledo. He further represented to the court that he had a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration which allowed him to analyze and test controlled substances and drugs, and that he had received certain on-the-job training. Finally, in further testimony of his qualified skill in drug analysis, Zielinski stated that he had1 attended various State and Federal seminars regarding the analyzation of drugs.

As to his expertise in the area of weapon operability, Zielinski testified that he actually fired approximately 700 weapons during the previous year to determine whether they were operable.

Zielinski similarly claimed to elevate his level of expertise in the area of handwriting analysis to that of an expert by stating that he had attended a class in document examination and document comparison at the F. B. I. Academy in Quantico and that he had attended a seminar on handwriting which was sponsored by the Bureau of Criminal Identification (BCI). Additionally, Zielinski testified that he received on-the-job training and that he had personally performed approximately 150 handwriting comparisons during the preceding year.

As to the first count of the indictment, possession of a narcotic drug, Zielinski testified that he had analyzed the substance found in the tinfoil packet and determined that cocaine was present. This determination, he stated, was based on medical certainty. The second conclusion Zielinski reached relative to the alleged cocaine was that it was not of pharmaceutical grade.

As to the second count of the indictment, carrying' a [116]*116concealed weapon, Zielinski testified that he had test fired the pistol originally on May 18, 1976, and again on May 9, 1977. Based on those tests, Zielinski testified that he had determined to a scientific certainty that the gun was operable.

As to the remaining counts of the indictment, making illegal prescriptions, Zielinski testified to a scientific certainty that the handwriting on the prescriptions was that of DeFronzo. This determination was based on Zielinski’s personal analysis of the prescriptions.

Zielinski was the state’s sole witness who testified as to the composition of the substance found in the tinfoil packet, the operability of the pistol, and the identity of the handwriting on the prescriptions.

On September 2, 1977, an article in the Toledo Blade newspaper represented that the Toledo Police Crime Laboratory was under investigation for alleged irregularities in procedures.

On September 6,1977, the defendant filed a motion for a new trial.

As a result of the police division’s internal affairs investigation into the Crime Laboratory, Richard Zielinski was indicted on, and pled guilty to eight counts of falsification for mistaking his academic credentials. State v. Zielinski, CR 78-5273 (Lucas Co. C. P.). One of the eight counts involved Zielinski’s testimony in the case now at bar.

Numerous hearings have been held and substantial testimony has been taken in connection with the defendant’s motion for a new trial. The fruit of that testimony related to each of the counts in DeFronzo’s indictment as follows:

Count One

A) Zielinski did not have a four year degree from The University of Toledo in Pharmacy.-

B) Nowhere in Zielinski’s personnel file is there a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration, nor was any such license produced at any hearing.

C) Zielinski was the recipient of on-the-job training from various police captains who served as head of the Crime Laboratory beginning in 1968.

[117]*117D) Zielinski did not attend any State seminars conducted by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and1 Investigation. There was no specific evidence adduced relative to the veracity of Zielinski’s trial testimony that' he attended any Federal drug seminars.

E) A civilian crime lab technician testified during the new trial hearings that Zielinski related to him that he*' Zielinski, had not performed the drug analysis in the Nicholas DeFronzo case, but that a local doctor made the analysis.

F) A stipulation was subsequently entered into which agreed that if the local doctor in question was to testify, the testimony would be that he, the doctor, did not perform the tests.

G) Gary Heil, one of the two Metro Drug Agents who made the arrest of DeFronzo related to the court that he was present with Zielinski when the cocaine was analyzed, and that the testing was performed on the day of the arrest, May 18, 1976. The is in direct conflict with Zielinski’s trial testimony in which he stated that the analysis took place on June 11, 1976.

H) The substance found in the tinfoil packet was analyzed on August 3, 1978, and found to be cocaine. Additionally, there was no interfering substance found in the cocaine.

I) The tinfoil packet was checked out of the police property room on June 10, 1976, and returned on June 11, 1976. The return was made by Richard Zielinski.

Count Two

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Bluebook (online)
394 N.E.2d 1027, 59 Ohio Misc. 113, 13 Ohio Op. 3d 337, 1978 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 95, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-defronzo-ohctcompllucas-1978.