State v. Lee

646 N.E.2d 508, 97 Ohio App. 3d 197, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 4116
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 19, 1994
DocketNo. 93-A-1808.
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 646 N.E.2d 508 (State v. Lee) 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. Lee, 646 N.E.2d 508, 97 Ohio App. 3d 197, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 4116 (Ohio Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

Nader, Judge.

This is an appeal from the judgment of the Ashtabula County Court of Common Pleas entered upon the jury verdict finding appellant, David W. Lee, guilty of aggravated trafficking in drugs in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1). On June 24,1993, appellant was sentenced to a definite term of two years’ incarceration.

It is uncontested that the following facts were presented at trial. On January 9, 1993, an off-duty auxiliary patrolman with the city of Ashtabula, Trevar Trask, was driving along West 32nd Street in Ashtabula when two males attracted his *198 attention. These individuals offered to sell him drugs. Trask proceeded to the police station to report this event. As a consequence of this report, Trask was wired with a body microphone and was given an identified $20 bill and was instructed to return to the area in his car to attempt a purchase. Several officers were sent to the area to tape-record any sale and to effectuate the arrest. Trask was approached by another individual, but this individual required more than $20 for a sale. Trask returned to the police station and obtained two additional $20 bills.

Trask returned to the same location and pulled his car to the side of the road. It was shortly thereafter that appellant and another person first approached Trask’s automobile. Appellant knocked on the window and started a conversation. Trask testified to the following on direct examination:

“Q. Now, during this time frame that you had conversation with the defendant, can you indicate to the ladies and gentlemen of the jury basically what he said to you?
“A. He asked me what I needed.
“Q. Did you respond?
“A. I asked him to give me fifty dollars worth.
“Q. Was there further conversation between you and Mr. Lee?
“A. He stated he had two rocks on him and he’d give them to me for fifty dollars.
“Q. And when he used the work [sic ] ‘rocks,’ were you familiar with that particular terminology?
“A. Yes, I was.
“Q. What did that term mean to you at that time?
“A. Crack cocaine.
“Q. Did there ever come a time you continued this conversation?
“A. I asked him to get into my vehicle and he refused.
“Q. After he refused to get into your vehicle, what took place?
“A. I asked him if the price was fifty dollars. He stated he’d give it to me for forty.
“Q. That would be forty dollars?
“A. Correct.
“Q. Are you familiar with the price of rock cocaine in the Ashtabula City area?
*199 “A. Yes, I am.
“Q. And how are you familiar with that?
“A. Just dealing with it all the time.
“Q. What is generally the price of rock cocaine?
“MR. PERDUE: Objection.
“THE COURT: Overruled.
“He can answer that.
“A. Usually they’re sold in ten to twenty dollar pieces.
“Q. Did you have more conversation with Mr. Lee at that time?
“A. Yes, I did.
“Q. What was that conversation?
“A. He gave me the two rocks and I handed him the money.”

Analysis of the substance transferred to Trask showed that the “rocks” contained no controlled substances.

Appellant filed a timely appeal in which he designates a single assignment of error:

“The Ashtabula County Court of Common Pleas erred to the prejudice of David W. Lee where it accepted the jury’s verdict of guilty and entered a judgment of conviction thereon when the verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence.”

R.C. 2925.03(A)(1) reads:

“(A) No person shall knowingly do any of the following:
“(1) Sell or offer to sell a controlled substance[.]”

Appellant argues in his brief, that, because there was no controlled substance involved in the exchange between him and Trask, he cannot be convicted of offering to sell a controlled substance under R.C. 2925.03(A)(1), but could be indicted and convicted only under R.C. 2925.37(B), which states:

“No person shall knowingly make, sell, offer to sell, or deliver any substance that he knows is a counterfeit controlled substance.”

Appellant’s contention is that a necessary element of the offense of offering to sell a controlled substance under R.C. 2925.03(A)(1) is that the substance offered actually be a controlled substance. Thus, appellant challenges the sufficiency rather than the weight of the evidence. The test for the sufficiency of the evidence was set forth in State v. Eley (1978), 56 Ohio St.2d 169, 10 O.O.3d 340, 383 N.E.2d 132, syllabus:

*200 “A reviewing court will not reverse a jury verdict where there is substantial evidence upon which a jury could reasonably conclude that all the elements of an offense have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

As no controlled substance was involved in the exchange between Trask and appellant, the issue presented by this appeal is whether a person who offers to sell what purports to be a controlled substance, but in fact is not, may be convicted of aggravated trafficking in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1).

The Supreme Court of Ohio held in State v. Scott (1982), 69 Ohio St.2d 439, 23 O.O.3d 390, 432 N.E.2d 798, syllabus:

“A person can ‘offer to sell a controlled substance’ in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1) without transferring a controlled substance to the buyer.”

In State v. Patterson (1982), 69 Ohio St.2d 445, at 447, 23 O.O.3d 394, at 395, 432 N.E.2d 802, at 803, the court explained that the culpable state of “knowing” relates to the act of offering. Thus, one who knowingly offers what purports to be a controlled substance has committed the offense of aggravated trafficking.

Appellant contends, however, that Scott and Patterson are no longer good law in light of the subsequent passage of R.C. 2925.37(B). In Patterson,

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Bluebook (online)
646 N.E.2d 508, 97 Ohio App. 3d 197, 1994 Ohio App. LEXIS 4116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-lee-ohioctapp-1994.