State v. Isaac

2017 Ohio 7139, 95 N.E.3d 954
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedAugust 7, 2017
Docket15CA87
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2017 Ohio 7139 (State v. Isaac) 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. Isaac, 2017 Ohio 7139, 95 N.E.3d 954 (Ohio Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Hoffman, P.J.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant Tracy Isaac reopens her appeal of her conviction and sentence entered by the Richland County Court of Common Pleas on one count of illegal manufacture of methamphetamines, in the vicinity of a school zone and/or juvenile; one count of illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of methamphetamines, in the vicinity of a school zone and/or a juvenile, and two counts of child endangering. Plaintiff-appellee is the state of Ohio. 1

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE

{¶ 2} On August 12, 2014, Officer Mandy Lynn Rodriquez of the Mansfield Metrich Drug Task Force received a call from a pharmacist at the Walgreens in Mansfield, Ohio. The pharmacist reported suspicious conduct on the part of two women attempting to purchase a quantity of pseudoephedrine while visiting the Walgreens pharmacy. The women had trouble producing identification, and one of the women left leaving her purported identification behind. Each of the women had prior significant history of purchasing pseudoephedrine.

{¶ 3} Officer Rodriquez and Officer Steven Schivinski of the Mansfield Metrich Drug Task Force drove to the Walgreens and spoke with the pharmacist, retrieving the left-behind identification. The officers learned the identification belonged to Joanne Burns, codefendant herein, who had a suspended driver's license but had been issued a state identification card.

{¶ 4} The officers then drove to the address indicated on the identification card left at the pharmacy, that being 751 Armstrong in Mansfield, Ohio. The premises at the address appeared to be abandoned. A subsequent inquiry revealed Joanne Burns was presently living at 739 Bowman Street in Mansfield, Ohio. The officers proceeded to that address.

{¶ 5} Upon arrival there, a boy about twelve years of age answered the door, stating no adults were present at the home. The officers returned to the residence an hour later, noticing a vehicle in the driveway. Upon knocking, two adults answered the door, who were identified as Joanne Burns and her husband, Lyle Burns. The officers obtained verbal consent to search the residence from the Burns.

{¶ 6} Present in the home were: Joanne Burns, Lyle Burns, Appellant, and two minor children. The female child approximately five or six years of age belonged to Burns and her husband, and a male child, approximately twelve years of age, who had previously answered the door, belonged to Appellant.

{¶ 7} Appellant indicated to the officers she had been staying at the residence for about two weeks due to marital problems with her husband. At the time the officers entered the home, Appellant was in an upstairs bedroom.

{¶ 8} Officers conducted a search of the home, including the upstairs area where Joanne Burns and Appellant had bedrooms, and the basement. In the basement of the residence, officers found: two bottles of liquid, rubber tubing, coffee filters, Coleman fuel, ammonia nitrate, peeled lithium batteries, and cold packs. The officers also conducted a test which indicated the presence of ammonia, necessary in the manufacture of methamphetamine. The items were submitted to the Mansfield Police Crime Lab. The liquid found in the one-pot cooking vessel was tested for the presence of methamphetamine.

{¶ 9} The Richland County Grand Jury indicted Appellant as follows: Count One, manufacturing or engaging in the production of methamphetamine, in the vicinity of a school zone and/or juvenile, in violation of R.C. 2925.04(A) and (C)(3)(b), a felony of the first degree; Count Two: assembling or possessing one or more chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine, in the vicinity of a school and/or juvenile, in violation of R.C. 2925.041(A) and (C)(2), a felony of the second degree; and Counts Three and Four, endangering children, in violation of R.C. 2919.22(B)(6), both felonies of the third degree.

{¶ 10} On August 4, 2015, the State filed a motion for joinder of defendants. On August 25, 2015, Appellant filed a memorandum in opposition. The trial court granted the motion for joinder.

{¶ 11} The matter proceeded to jury trial. The jury found Appellant guilty of the charges as stated in the indictment. On September 14, 2015, the trial court sentenced Appellant to a mandatory ten years imprisonment on Count One; the trial court merged Appellant's conviction on Count Two with her conviction on Count One. The trial court sentenced Appellant to two years mandatory time on Counts Three and Four, ordering the terms to run concurrently, for a total term of ten years. Appellant was also sentenced to a five year term of mandatory post-release control, and a sixty month driver's license suspension.

{¶ 12} Via Order of September 17, 2015, the trial court imposed costs of the jury in the amount of $1,400 jointly and severally between Appellant and her codefendant Joanne Burns.

{¶ 13} Appellant filed a direct appeal of her conviction and sentence in State v. Isaac , 2016-Ohio-7376 , 76 N.E.3d 498 . Via Opinion and Judgment Entry of October 14, 2016, this Court affirmed Appellant's convictions as to Count One of illegal manufacture of methamphetamine, in violation of R.C. 2925.04(A) and (C)(3)(b), within the vicinity of a school zone and/or a juvenile; and Count Two of illegal possession of chemicals for the manufacture of methamphetamine, in violation of R.C. 2925.041(A) and (C)(2), in the vicinity of a school zone and/or a juvenile. 2 This Court further affirmed Appellant's convictions on Counts Three and Four, child endangering, holding,

Appellant was further charged in Counts Three and Four with Endangering Children in violation of R.C. of 2919.22(B)(6), which reads,
(B) No person shall do any of the following to a child under eighteen years of age or a mentally or physically handicapped child under twenty-one years of age:
* * *
(6) Allow the child to be on the same parcel of real property and within one hundred feet of, or, in the case of more than one housing unit on the same parcel of real property, in the same housing unit and within one hundred feet of, any act in violation of section 2925.04 or 2925.041 of the Revised Code when the person knows that the act is occurring, whether or not any person is prosecuted for or convicted of the violation of section 2925.04 or 2925.041 of the Revised Code that is the basis of the violation of this division.
* * *
Further, there was sufficient testimony presented at trial both children resided at 739 Bowman Street on August 12, 2014, during which time there was evidence of a one-pot cook methamphetamine lab discovered by law enforcement. The statute does not require the state to prove Appellant had the authority or the ability to control the minor child of her codefendant.
We find Appellant's convictions were not against the manifest weight or against the sufficiency of the evidence.

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Bluebook (online)
2017 Ohio 7139, 95 N.E.3d 954, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-isaac-ohioctapp-2017.