State v. Flagg

2019 Ohio 3032
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 29, 2019
Docket9-18-43
StatusPublished

This text of 2019 Ohio 3032 (State v. Flagg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Flagg, 2019 Ohio 3032 (Ohio Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Flagg, 2019-Ohio-3032.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO THIRD APPELLATE DISTRICT MARION COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO,

PLAINTIFF-APPELLEE, CASE NO. 9-18-43

v.

ANDREW FLAGG, OPINION

DEFENDANT-APPELLANT.

Appeal from Marion County Common Pleas Court Trial Court No. 18-CR-0327

Judgment Affirmed

Date of Decision: July 29, 2019

APPEARANCES:

Todd A. Workman for Appellant

Nathan R. Heiser for Appellee Case No. 9-18-43

SHAW, J.

{¶1} Defendant-appellant, Andrew A. Flagg (“Flagg”), brings this appeal

from the October 23, 2018, judgment of the Marion County Common Pleas Court

sentencing him to twelve months of community control after Flagg was convicted

in a jury trial of two counts of Forgery in violation of R.C. 2913.31(A)(3), both

felonies of the fifth degree. On appeal, Flagg argues that the trial court erred by

overruling his suppression motion.

Background

{¶2} On June 27, 2018, Flagg was indicted for two counts of Forgery in

violation of R.C. 2913.31(A)(3), both felonies of the fifth degree. It was alleged

that Flagg presented a counterfeit $100 bill as payment at a minimart in Marion

County on January 14, 2018, and that Flagg presented a counterfeit $100 bill as

payment at an Amish store in Hardin County on January 18, 2018. In both instances,

the bills were accepted as payment. The charges were indicted together in Marion

County as part of an ongoing course of criminal conduct. Flagg pled not guilty to

the charges.

{¶3} Prior to trial, Flagg filed a suppression motion contending that officers

in Marion County conducted a photo lineup with the cashier who accepted the $100

bill at the minimart, and that the lineup was not in compliance with the statutory

procedures for photo lineups codified in R.C. 2933.83. In addition, Flagg argued

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that different officers in Hardin County conducted a photo lineup with the cashier

who accepted the $100 bill at the Amish store, and that lineup even more

egregiously failed to comply with the statutory procedures codified in R.C. 2933.83.

{¶4} The State filed a memorandum in opposition to Flagg’s suppression

motion, arguing that the statutory procedures were largely complied with,

particularly in the Marion County lineup, and that even if the photo lineups were

not in compliance with the statute, the lineups were not unduly suggestive such that

they warranted suppression. The State contended that a jury instruction as

mentioned in R.C. 2933.83 was the appropriate remedy for failure to comply with

R.C. 2933.83 when the photo lineups were not unduly suggestive.

{¶5} On September 21, 2018, a suppression hearing was held. At the

hearing, the State presented the testimony of officers from the Hardin County

Sheriff’s Office who conducted a photo lineup with Marie H., the 17-year old girl

from the Amish store who had accepted the $100 bill on January 18, 2018, and an

officer from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office who prepared the photo lineup for

Sharon W., the woman from the minimart in Marion County who accepted the $100

bill on January 14, 2018. Unlike the Hardin County photo lineup, the Marion

County lineup was given by a blind administrator, who did not know the identity of

the purported suspect.1 The State also presented the testimony of Marie and Sharon

1 The blind administrator testified at trial but not at the suppression hearing.

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regarding the lineups themselves. Both indicated that the officers did not attempt

to influence them, and that they were extremely confident in their selection of

Flagg’s photograph.

{¶6} At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court overruled the

suppression motion. In its entry on the matter, the trial court stated as follows.

Based on the evidence presented, the Court finds that two photo lineups were presented in this case, neither of which fully complied with the procedures required by R.C. 2933.83. However, there was no evidence that either identification procedure was unduly suggestive. It is therefore ORDERED that the Defendant’s motion to suppress is denied.

{¶7} However, the trial court did determine that Flagg would be permitted to

present evidence at trial of law enforcement’s failure to comply with the statutory

procedures, and that failure to follow the procedures could be considered by the jury

in determining the reliability of the identification testimony pursuant to R.C.

2933.83(C). The trial court also indicated that the jury would receive an instruction

on the matter.

{¶8} Flagg’s case proceeded to trial on September 25-26, 2018. Regarding

the incident in Marion County, the State presented the testimony of Sharon W., who

worked at the LaRue minimart in Marion County and accepted the $100 bill from

Flagg on January 14, 2018. She testified that she did not know Flagg’s name, but

he had been in the store multiple times in the past so she recognized him. She

testified that the $100 bill he presented had questionable pink writing on it, and that

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she thought it seemed like it had been “laundered several times.” (Tr. at 213).

Sharon testified that she asked Flagg where he got it, and he said he had received it

from “one of the cash places.” (Id.) Sharon testified that while she usually used a

special pen to mark the bills to see if they were legitimate, the pen was not readily

nearby and she ultimately accepted the bill. Sharon identified Flagg in court as the

man who provided the bill to her.

{¶9} Sharon testified that she was shown a photo lineup a few days after the

incident and that she was “100 percent” certain that she had identified the correct

person in the photo lineup. She testified she was not influenced by the detective

who showed her the photographs.

{¶10} The Marion County Officers who were involved with the photo lineup

testified at trial. Detective Craig Layne testified as to how he put the photo lineup

together. A database called OLEG was used to generate photographs of males with

a similar height, weight, and hair color to Flagg. Flagg’s photograph was then

placed alone in one folder, then the five other photographs of different individuals

were placed in separate individual folders. Four folders with blank pages in them

were also included in the stack of folders, so that there were ten folders total that

would be provided to Sharon.2 The folders were then given to a blind administrator

who did not know the identity of the suspect, and the blind administrator conducted

2 The trial court stated that the purpose of the use of the blank pages is so that the person doing the identification does not know how many individuals she is about to view.

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the photo lineup with Sharon. There was some ambiguity about whether the blind

administrator handed all of the folders to Sharon at once in contravention of the

statute, or handed them to her one at a time, and as to whether Sharon viewed the

photographs in the administrator’s presence or a few feet away. Regardless, the

administrator did not know the alleged perpetrator, and Sharon identified Flagg,

stating that she was 100 hundred percent certain it was him.

{¶11} As to the Hardin County incident, the State presented the testimony of

Marie H., whose Amish family owned and operated a small grocery store on their

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Bluebook (online)
2019 Ohio 3032, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-flagg-ohioctapp-2019.