State v. Johnson

165 N.E.2d 814, 112 Ohio App. 124, 83 Ohio Law. Abs. 437
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 25, 1960
Docket25020
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 165 N.E.2d 814 (State v. Johnson) 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. Johnson, 165 N.E.2d 814, 112 Ohio App. 124, 83 Ohio Law. Abs. 437 (Ohio Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

OPINION

By GUERNSEY, J.

Defendant’s appeal is from a judgment of conviction and sentence for the unlawful possession (§3719.09 R. C.), .unlawful possession for sale (§3719.20 [A] R. C.), and unlawful sale (§3719.20 [B] R. C.), on October 29, 1957, of cannabis (marijuana), and for the unlawful possession, unlawful possession for sale, unlawful sale, and unlawfully permitting the use of a dwelling house controlled by him for the illegal keeping or dispensing (§3719.101 R. C.), on October 28, 1958, of cannabis. Although each of these charges was contained in a separate indictment they were tried together and the parties have treated them as if they were separate counts of the same indictment, and, we shall do likewise. For purposes of brevity we will also hereafter refer to these offenses as “possession,” “possession for sale,” “sale,” and “permitting the use of a house.”

The counts relating to October 29, 1957, arose generally from the same transaction, it appearing from the testimony of one Willie Den-nard that the Cleveland police, with his cooperation, had searched him and determined that he did not have in his possession either marijuana or money, and had then furnished him with four one dollar bills; that Dennard then looked for defendant at a poolroom and a cafe without finding him; that he then saw defendant coming “up between the buildings by the poolroom”; that he handed defendant the money which had been furnished to him; that Dennard and defendant then “went back thé same way he came from and went back in the alley, he (defendant) picked up a package (from beneath some bushes) and gave me (Dennard) nine sticks of marijuana;” that Dennard then came from the alley by *440 himself at the point where he had entered, walked to Falcon Road, where he again saw defendant who warned him of the presence of a police car; and that Dennard then proceeded to about 77th and Kinsman on Falcon Road where he turned the nine sticks of marijuana over to the police officers. One of the policemen testified that he had observed everything prior to the time that Dennard and defendant disappeared from sight into the alley and also following Dennard’s reappearance from the alley, except that the only time he saw defendant after Den-nard’s reappearance was at Minnie Avenue and Kinsman, unaccompanied by Dennard. Defendant ¡was not arrested at the time of this incident, was not searched for the money which Dennard allegedly had given him, and was not indicted ifntil the September, 1958, term of court.

On October 28, 1958, Cleveland police observed one Willis Manning drive up in front of his home and alight from his car. After approaching him they found on the ground near his feet a small package, consisting of marijuana wrapped in aluminum foil. Although Manning denied at defendant’s trial that he had done so, it was testified by the police that he had informed them that he had purchased the marijuana from defendant. The police proceeded to defendant’s home and upon search thereof found a coat belonging to defendant with traces of marijuana in the pocket, a penny matchbox of the type commonly used for measuring marijuana with traces of marijuana therein, and a box containing a roll of aluminum foil, the torn end of which precisely matched a torn edge of the aluminum foil wrapping of the package found at Manning’s feet.

The marijuana “sticks” allegedly purchased on Oetobter 29, 1957, and the physical evidence found on October 28, 1958, were kept in police possession until the trial of the case in June, 1959.

The defendant-appellant assigns error as follows:

“1. The Court erred in the matter of duplicity.
“2. The Court erred in not granting a motion for mistrial or granting a new trial due to the misconduct of proceedings and that of the prosecutor.
“3. Evidence admitted Contrary to Law.
“4. Verdict is Contrary to Law.”

Defendant’s first assignment of error is based on the proposition that the counts of possession, possession for sale, and sale, on October 29, 1957, are predicated on identical evidence, and that the counts of possession, possession for sale, and sale, on October 28, 1958, are likewise predicated on identical evidence, that these counts as to each occasion are duplicitous, and that to permit a finding of guilty on more than one count as to each occasion subjects the defendant to being prosecuted twice for the same act.

The term duplicity in its strictest sense applies to the joinder of separate and distinct offenses in one and the same count (which we do not have here), but is sometimes made applicable to the misjoinder of offenses in the indictment generally. Sec. 162, Indictment and Information, 42 C. J. S., 1112.

Although it is well settled that under the provisions of §2941.04 R. C., great liberality exists as to the joinder for trial of offenses or state *441 ments of the same offense in an indictment, and that the prosecution is not required to elect between the different offenses or counts, nevertheless we are in agreement with the defendant that such statute cannot be construed to permit a defendant to be charged with and found guilty at one trial of two offenses when, if tried separately, conviction of one offense would be a bar to conviction thereafter of the other. In other words, if constitutional or statutory limitations would make a prior conviction of one offense a bar to conviction of an offense later charged, the same constitutional dr statutory limitations should apply equally as well if both offenses are charged and tried at the same time.

Article I, Sec. 10, Ohio Constitution, provides, among other things, that “no person shall be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense.” The Supreme Court of Ohio has often held or stated that the fact that a defendant has been put in jeopardy upon a trial for one criminal act is no bar to a prosecution for a separate and distinct criminal act merely because they are closely connected in point of time, place and circumstance; that the words “same offense” mean same offense, not the same transaction, not the same acts, not the same circumstances or same situations; and that it is not enough that some single element of the offense charged may have a single element of some other offense as to which the defendant had theretofore been in jeopardy, but the constitutional provision requires that it shall be the “same offense.” Dodge v. State, 124 Oh St 580; Duvall v. State, 111 Oh St 657; State v. Rose, 89 Oh St 383; and Mitchell v. State, 42 Ohio St 383.

In the case of Weaver v. State, 74 Oh St 53, wherein the first count of an indictment charged the keeping of a place where intoxicating liquors are kept for sale in violation of §4364-20b R. S., and the second count charged, the keeping of a place where intoxicating liquors are sold in violation of §6942 R. S., the Supreme Court held there was but one offense and the penalties of both sections could not be inflicted, and Judge Price stated in his opinion at page 61:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
165 N.E.2d 814, 112 Ohio App. 124, 83 Ohio Law. Abs. 437, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-johnson-ohioctapp-1960.