State v. Jackson

2010 Ohio 621, 927 N.E.2d 574, 125 Ohio St. 3d 218
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 3, 2010
Docket2008-1499
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 2010 Ohio 621 (State v. Jackson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Jackson, 2010 Ohio 621, 927 N.E.2d 574, 125 Ohio St. 3d 218 (Ohio 2010).

Opinions

Lanzinger, J.

{¶ 1} This case concerns a public employee’s statement given during an internal investigation under the threat of the employee’s termination from office, a so-called Garrity statement. Garrity v. New Jersey (1967), 385 U.S. 493, 87 S.Ct. 616, 17 L.Ed.2d 562. We are asked to determine whether the Garrity statement was “used” by the state in a later prosecution of the public employee and, if so, the consequences of that use.

I. Case Background

{¶ 2} Anthony Jackson, appellee and cross-appellant, was on administrative leave from the Canton Police Department when he was involved in an incident that eventually led to his indictment for possession of a firearm in a bar. On May 30, 2006, Sergeant Jon Roethlisberger of the Perry Township Police Department responded to a call about a fight at Lew’s Tavern in Perry Township. Jackson and another person were involved, but neither wished to pursue criminal charges. While talking to a bar patron on the night of the incident, Roethlisberger learned that Jackson had possessed a firearm inside the tavern.

{¶ 3} Lieutenant David Davis investigated the incident on behalf of the Canton Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit. As part of this internal investigation, Davis ordered Jackson to submit to an interview and make a statement. Davis [219]*219gave Jackson a document titled “Garrity Warning” before this interview. The warning stated:

{¶ 4} “This questioning concerns administrative matters relating to the official business of the Canton Police Department. During the course of this questioning, if you disclose information which indicates that you may be guilty of criminal conduct, neither your self-incriminating statements nor the fruits of any self-incriminating statements you make will be used against you in any criminal legal proceedings. Since this is an administrative matter and any self-incriminating information you may disclose will not be used against you in a court of law, you are required to answer my questions fully and truthfully. * * * If you refuse to answer all my questions, this in itself is a violation of the rules and procedures of the department, and you will be subject to separate disciplinary action.”

{¶ 5} In other words, the police department assured Jackson that neither his statement nor its “fruits” would be used later in any criminal proceeding.

{¶ 6} Jackson gave detailed answers to questions regarding the May 30, 2006 Lew’s Tavern incident (the “Garrity statement”). He also disclosed the name of a potential witness, Vince Van. The state acknowledges that no one connected to the investigation had previously been aware that a person named Vince Van was a potential witness. After Jackson answered Davis’s questions, Davis continued to investigate by interviewing Van.

{¶ 7} Both Roethlisberger and Davis testified before a grand jury on August 10, 2006. The grand jury testimony, which the trial court ordered to be included under seal as part of the record, reveals that Davis testified on the propriety of an officer’s carrying a firearm while on administrative leave and on the implications of administrative leave in general. When Davis was asked whether he had spoken to Jackson about the incident, he acknowledged the existence of Jackson’s Garrity statement, but declined to divulge its contents. The grand jury returned an indictment against Jackson for possession of a firearm in a D-permit liquor establishment in violation of R.C. 2923.121(A).

{¶ 8} It is not clear from the record whether the indicting prosecutor had obtained a copy of Jackson’s Garrity statement before the indictment was returned, but the trial prosecutor, who was not the same person as the indicting prosecutor, acknowledged that he had obtained a copy of this statement sometime between July 24 and September 20, 2006.

{¶ 9} Jackson filed a motion to dismiss,1 arguing that the state had improperly used the fruits of his Garrity statement. The trial court held that Davis’s testimony before the grand jury violated Jackson’s Fifth Amendment rights [220]*220pursuant to Garrity, 385 U.S. 493, 87 S.Ct. 616, 17 L.Ed.2d 562, because Davis had knowledge of Jackson’s compelled statements. The court therefore dismissed the indictment.

{¶ 10} The Fifth District Court of Appeals agreed that Jackson’s Fifth Amendment rights had been violated. State v. Jackson, 5th Dist. No. 2007CA00274, 2008-Ohio-2944, 2008 WL 2573254, ¶ 31. However, the court of appeals reversed the portion of the trial court opinion that dismissed the indictment and held that Jackson’s Garrity statement was not used to obtain the indictment but was used by the trial prosecutor after indictment. Id. at ¶ 35. The court also held that the proper remedy for the Garrity violation was to purge the prosecutor’s files of the internal-affairs file, including the Garrity statement, and try the case with a new prosecutor. Id. at ¶ 37.

{¶ 11} We accepted jurisdiction over the state’s appeal on the following proposition of law: “When a public employer compels an employee to give a statement under threat of removal from office, Garrity * * * prohibits the direct or derivative use of the statement in a subsequent criminal trial, but it does not prohibit a prosecutor’s knowledge, or ‘non-evidentiary’ use of it.” We also accepted jurisdiction over Jackson’s cross-appeal on the following proposition of law: “When a public employer compels an employee to give a statement under threat of removal from office, and then subsequently provides that statement to the prosecuting attorney who is pursuing a criminal conviction against the employee, State v. Conrad (1990), 50 Ohio St.3d 1, 552 N.E.2d 214, requires dismissal of the case unless the prosecuting attorney can establish that the state has not made any use of the [Garrity statement] and that all of the evidence to be used at trial was derived from sources wholly independent of that [Garrity statement].” In other words, we are asked to (1) define the meaning of “use” for Garrity purposes and (2) clarify the remedy for a Garrity violation.

II. Legal Analysis

{¶ 12} Statements such as Jackson’s Garrity statement are compelled statements and are subject to the constitutional protections of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments.2

A. Garrity v. New Jersey and Kastigar v. United States

{¶ 13} In Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493, 87 S.Ct. 616, 17 L.Ed.2d 562, police officers being investigated for criminal activity were given a choice to [221]*221either answer the questions asked during the internal investigation or forfeit their jobs. The officers chose to answer questions. Later, some of their answers were used against them in criminal proceedings. The United States Supreme Court held that the officers’ confessions had been compelled because they were given the choice between forfeiting their jobs and incriminating themselves. Id. at 496-498, 87 S.Ct.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2010 Ohio 621, 927 N.E.2d 574, 125 Ohio St. 3d 218, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-jackson-ohio-2010.