State v. Good

169 N.E.2d 468, 110 Ohio App. 397, 13 Ohio Op. 2d 171, 1959 Ohio App. LEXIS 765
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 30, 1959
Docket6001
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 169 N.E.2d 468 (State v. Good) 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. Good, 169 N.E.2d 468, 110 Ohio App. 397, 13 Ohio Op. 2d 171, 1959 Ohio App. LEXIS 765 (Ohio Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

Ronald L. Good, defendant, appellant herein, was convicted of four counts of violating Section 3719.20 of the Revised Code (126 Ohio Laws, 178, 188). After the overruling of a motion for a new trial, he was sentenced and has appealed to this court.

The court being equally divided (one judge not participating), the case is assigned for reargument before a three-judge court.

Bryant, P. J. Ronald L. Good, defendant, appellant herein, has appealed to this court from his conviction and sentence in the court below. There he was charged in eight counts and convicted on four counts of violating Section 3719.20 (A) and (B) of the Revised Code (126 Ohio Laws, 178, 188) forbidding, respectively, illegal possession for sale and illegal sale of narcotics.

Counts one and two for illegal possession and illegal sale allegedly occurring February 6, 1958, were withdrawn by the state. Counts three and four alleging illegal possession for sale and illegal sale on February 8,1958, and counts five and six alleging, respectively, illegal possession and illegal sale on February 14, 1958, were submitted to the jury and resulted in a verdict of guilty on each count. Counts seven and eight for illegal possession and illegal sale, respectively, allegedly occur *398 ring on February 22, 1958, were submitted to the jury and resulted in a not guilty verdict.

The first six counts of the indictment related to the alleged possession or sale of marijuana, while in counts seven and eight the narcotic was alleged to be heroin. Of course, our primary concern here is with the four counts upon which Good was found guilty. It should be noted that all sales were alleged to have been made to Lloyd Williams, Jr., a police informer.

The appeal in this case presents a special difficulty at the outset for the reason that it is an appeal “on questions of law and fact. ’ ’ Appeals in criminal cases are limited to appeals on questions of law. Section 2501.02 of the Revised Code enumerates ten classes of cases in which appeals on questions of law and fact are authorized and then contains this language:

“In all cases not falling within the classes designated above the Court of Appeals shall have jurisdiction to proceed as in an appeal on questions of law only. ’ ’

The appeal in this case would properly have been subject to a motion to reduce, but no such motion has been filed nor has the issue been raised on behalf of the state of Ohio, plaintiff, appellee herein. Furthermore, counsel for Good has proceeded as though this were an appeal on questions of law and has filed a brief containing ten assignments of error, as is proper in a law appeal. We shall therefore treat this as having been properly reduced and shall consider the errors assigned.

The first and sixth assignments of error will be considered together. In the first assignment, it is claimed the defendant was deprived of a fair trial because the jurors in the case had served, immediately prior to Good’s trial, in another case or cases involving narcotic law violation in which the same witnesses testified. The first assignment of error also complains that the trial judge refused “to step down.” The sixth assignment of error complains of the refusal of the trial court to sustain a challenge for cause to the panel.

The brief of defendant contains statements of a number of facts which are completely unsupported by the record. Whether a particular juror in the case on appeal sat in one or several other cases of such similarity as to disqualify the juror is a question of fact. The record is completely silent. About all we *399 get from the record is that a challenge for canse was made by eounsel for Good, after which the trial court, making reference to one other case, interrogated the jurors whether they did feel “embarrassed” to sit in the trial of Good. None of the jurors said they would be embarrassed, and the court ruled that “cause” had not been shown; and we are unable to find where either objection or exception was taken to this ruling.

We cannot consider, weigh or decide matters not exemplified in the record. The record is likewise completely silent on any challenge asking the trial court “to step down.” So far as we have been able to learn the trial court did not display any unfairness toward Good. For the reasons above set forth, the first and sixth assignments of error should be overruled.

The second assignment of error relates to the admission of “certain exhibits.” It is extremely difficult to follow the objections on behalf of Good, for the reason that no exhibit is mentioned by number. As to the objection to the writings upon the several envelopes introduced into evidence, we note that the trial court specifically cautioned the jury not to consider such written words as evidence or proof of any element of the crime charged. The court described the words written on the envelopes as “certain writing on some of these exhibits which pertain to the elements of these charges.” The court then continued with these words:

“Those writings should not be considered in themselves as evidence or as proof of the establishment of the elements that I have referred to that are necessary for you to find to render your verdict in this case.”

Thus the jury was directed to give no probative value to the writings complained of and there does not appear any reason to believe that the jury disregarded these instructions.

Objection also is made to the admission of certain photographs, state’s exhibits No. 5 and No. 8, inclusive. These are photographs of the back of an automobile with the trunk lid raised and showing a man lying inside. These apparently have to do with events occurring on March 8, 1958, or March 6, 1958. If their admission constituted error, it would appear to be harmless error. This is for the reason that Good admitted selling Lloyd Williams, Jr., the state’s informer, Dormin sleeping *400 pills on two occasions the same day under the representation that they were heroin. This we assume was on March 8, 1958. The second assignment of error is not well taken and must be overruled.

The third assignment of error should be overruled because it is vague and uncertain, merely complaining of the admission of “certain evidence and testimony” claimed to be prejudicial. The bill of exceptions in this case is nearly four hundred pages in length and this assignment of error is too vague to indicate the items objected to, as neither pages nor quotations of material objected to are set forth.

The remaining assignments of error, except nine, relate directly or indirectly to the defense of entrapment and will be considered together. Assignment four objects to the failure of the court to give special charges on entrapment. Assignment five complains that the trial court failed to charge on entrapment in its general charge. Assignment seven objects to overruling a motion to dismiss at the end of the state’s case, and assignment eight objects to the overruling of a motion to dismiss at the end of all the evidence, both motions to dismiss being based upon alleged entrapment of Good, or that Good was agent merely for Williams.

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Bluebook (online)
169 N.E.2d 468, 110 Ohio App. 397, 13 Ohio Op. 2d 171, 1959 Ohio App. LEXIS 765, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-good-ohioctapp-1959.