State v. Massey

2022 Ohio 100
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 18, 2022
DocketCA2021-03-010
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 2022 Ohio 100 (State v. Massey) 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. Massey, 2022 Ohio 100 (Ohio Ct. App. 2022).

Opinion

[Cite as State v. Massey, 2022-Ohio-100.]

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS

TWELFTH APPELLATE DISTRICT OF OHIO

CLINTON COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO, :

Appellant, : CASE NO. CA2021-03-010

: OPINION - vs - 1/18/2022 :

MAI THI MASSEY, :

Appellee. :

CRIMINAL APPEAL FROM CLINTON COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS Case No. CRI20-500-189

Andrew T. McCoy, Clinton County Prosecuting Attorney, and Lauryn G. Kitchen, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellant.

Alycia Bemmes, Clinton County Public Defender, for appellee.

BYRNE, J.

{¶1} The state of Ohio appeals from the decision of the Clinton County Court of

Common Pleas, which granted defendant-appellee Mai Thi Massey's motion to suppress

and prohibited the state from using evidence seized during a traffic stop. For the reasons

that follow, we affirm the trial court's decision.1

1. Pursuant to Loc.R. 6(A), we have sua sponte removed this case from the accelerated calendar for purposes of issuing this opinion. Clinton CA2021-03-010

I. Indictment and Motion to Suppress

{¶2} A Clinton County grand jury indicted Massey on one count of aggravated

possession of drugs. The indictment arose from a traffic stop initiated by a City of

Wilmington police officer, during which the officer searched Massey's purse and recovered

methamphetamine. Massey subsequently moved to suppress all evidence recovered

during the stop.

II. The Suppression Hearing

{¶3} Wilmington Police Officer Jordan Ianson testified that he had been a K-9

officer for two years. He performed his job as a police officer by looking for cars to stop and

looking for suspicious activity. He testified that if "I see [people who had told him in previous

encounters that they used narcotics] driving [then I] try to get some probable cause to get

them stopped, talk to them and go from there."

{¶4} Consistent with Officer Ianson's statement about his policing methods, he

testified that on May 17, 2020, he observed Massey driving in her van the opposite direction

from the direction he was driving. He knew Massey. During a previous encounter with

Massey, he learned that she had a suspended driver's license. He performed a U-turn and

drove behind Massey's van.

{¶5} Officer Ianson initially testified that he was behind Massey's van as she

approached a stop bar at the intersection of two streets. Officer Ianson claimed that he

could see that the van moved beyond the stop bar because the van was "kind of at a slant

in the intersection." At this point Officer Ianson initiated a traffic stop.

{¶6} Officer Ianson's body camera footage was then played for the court. The

footage commences after Officer Ianson pulled the van over and as he is approaching the

-2- Clinton CA2021-03-010

van.2

{¶7} The footage depicts Officer Ianson greeting Massey by name. He then tells

her, "you know you ain't got a license." Massey responds, "yeah I do" and confirms that

she "paid it" a couple days ago. Officer Ianson responds, "okay," and then gestures behind

the van and states, "you also didn't … you pulled past that stop bar up there." Massey,

reacting incredulously, denies that she pulled past the stop bar.

{¶8} Officer Ianson then asks Massey for her driver's license, which she produces

and hands to him. Officer Ianson then asks Massey where she's coming from. She points

in a direction. The officer asks her the question a second time and she responds, "oh, we

were just driving around." Officer Ianson then walks back to his police cruiser and sits in

the driver's seat. Moments later he confirms that Massey's driver's license is valid. He

comments to another officer on scene that, "she got it back," referring to the license. He

then tells the other officer, "I'm going to pull her out, see if she'll give me anything."

{¶9} Officer Ianson walks back to the van and tells Massey to step out of the car.

She complies. He tells her to move back towards his police car, which she does. He directs

her to stand behind his police cruiser, placing the cruiser between Massey and her van and

children. Officer Ianson again asks Massey where she's coming from. Massey responds

that she was driving around and that she and her husband had "got into it."

{¶10} After a few more questions, Officer Ianson asks Massey, "is there anything in

the vehicle that we need to know about?" Massey responds "no, nothing." Officer Ianson

then asks if he can search the vehicle and Massey responds, "go ahead."

{¶11} Massey then returns to the vehicle with Officer Ianson, who instructs her to

remove her children from the vehicle. As Massey's children are leaving the van, Massey

2. There was no footage played at trial of the alleged traffic infraction.

-3- Clinton CA2021-03-010

grabs her purse. However, Officer Ianson then tells her, "you just leave your purse in there,

Mai." She complies and puts the purse back in the vehicle.

{¶12} Officer Ianson then begins searching the vehicle, starting with the purse. He

recovers a baggie in the purse containing suspected methamphetamine.

{¶13} On cross-examination, Officer Ianson admitted that he did not stop Massey

because of his belief that she had an invalid license. Rather, he stated that he pulled her

over because of her alleged traffic violation. On further cross-examination, Officer Ianson

could not recall if there actually was a stop bar at the intersection where he observed

Massey's alleged traffic violation, and he stated that there might have been a stop sign

instead of a stop bar. Officer Ianson candidly conceded that when he told the other officer

that he said he was "going to pull her out, see if she'll give me anything" he meant he wanted

to get into the vehicle and check for narcotics. He further testified that he felt justified

prolonging the traffic stop after determining that Massey was validly licensed because of

his past knowledge that Massey purchased and used methamphetamine. Officer Ianson

also admitted that he never issued a traffic citation to Massey for the alleged traffic violation.

III. Trial Court's Decision Granting Motion to Suppress

{¶14} Following the suppression hearing, the trial court issued a decision and entry

granting Massey's motion to suppress. The court found that Officer Ianson did not possess

a lawful reason to stop Massey. The court noted Officer Ianson's uncertainty as to whether

there was a "stop bar" at the intersection, the officer's failure to cite Massey for a traffic

offense, and the officer's failure to even issue a warning to Massey for a traffic offense. The

court further stated that even if it assumed there really was a stop bar at the intersection,

the court "is not convinced observing a motorist have a 'slanted front end' of a vehicle over

the 'stop bar' is a traffic offense." The court found that the "true basis" that Officer Ianson

stopped Massey was because he wanted to talk to her and search her vehicle for narcotics,

-4- Clinton CA2021-03-010

not because of the alleged traffic offense. The court acknowledged that "pretextual stops

are not illegal as long as there is at least some legal basis for the stop," but found that "the

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Creech
2024 Ohio 5245 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2024)
State v. Johnson
2023 Ohio 1320 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2023)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2022 Ohio 100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-massey-ohioctapp-2022.