State v. Morales, Unpublished Decision (9-9-2005)

2005 Ohio 4714
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedSeptember 9, 2005
DocketNo. 2004 CA 68.
StatusUnpublished
Cited by45 cases

This text of 2005 Ohio 4714 (State v. Morales, Unpublished Decision (9-9-2005)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Court of Appeals primary law.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State v. Morales, Unpublished Decision (9-9-2005), 2005 Ohio 4714 (Ohio Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant Marcos Morales appeals his conviction and sentence from the Licking County Court of Common Pleas on one count of aggravated possession of drugs. Plaintiff-appellee is the State of Ohio.

STATEMENT OF THE FACTS AND CASE
{¶ 2} On April 5, 2004, the Licking County Grand Jury indicted appellant on one count of aggravated possession of drugs (methamphetamine) in violation R.C. 2925.11 (A)(C)(1)(e), a felony of the first degree. The indictment alleged that appellant knowingly obtained, used or possessed methamphetamine in an amount equal to or exceeding one hundred times the bulk amount. At his arraignment on April 19, 2004, appellant entered a plea of not guilty to the charge.

{¶ 3} Subsequently, a jury trial commenced on July 16, 2004. The following evidence was adduced at trial.

{¶ 4} At approximately 5:30 p.m. on March 25, 2004, Deputy Sheriff Greg Spung of the Licking County Sheriff's Department was sitting stationary in his marked cruiser on State Route 79 during his shift when he observed a Toyota Camry traveling 45 miles per hour in a posted 35 mile per hour speed zone. The deputy stopped the vehicle and ordered both occupants out of the same. After the two men in the vehicle were secured in other cruisers, Deputy Spung impounded and inventoried the vehicle.

{¶ 5} At trial, Deputy Spung testified that appellant was driving the vehicle, which had an Arizona temporary tag. Alonso Garcia Ortiz was appellant's passenger. According to the deputy, appellant's driver's license listed an address in Phoenix, Arizona. Deputy Sheriff Spung cited appellant for speeding.

{¶ 6} On cross-examination, Deputy Sheriff Spung testified that, on the date in question, he was working in coordination with the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force and that, at its direction, he executed a traffic stop on appellant. The following is an excerpt from Deputy Sheriff Spung's trial testimony:

{¶ 7} "Q. Okay. And were you given a description of a vehicle that ultimately matched the one that Mr. Morales was driving?

{¶ 8} "A. Actually, the description that was given to us wasn't even the right description.

{¶ 9} "Q. Okay. Now, ultimately, without getting into exactly what was said to you, was the gist of the instructions that were given to you basically if you see a vehicle matching this description with these types of occupants, you're to execute this traffic stop?

{¶ 10} "A. We were — I was to establish the reason for the stop first.

{¶ 11} "Q. Okay. When you say establish the reason for the stop, would that be determining that, in fact, Mr. Morales was speeding?

{¶ 12} "A. That could be — that was in the this case, yes, some type of violation, yes.

{¶ 13} "Q. So basically they were just looking for an excuse to pull Mr. Morales over; is that correct?

{¶ 14} "A. I don't know why they were wanting to stop the vehicle — wanting a reason to stop it." Transcript at 64-65.

{¶ 15} The next witness to testify at trial was Mark Emde, a K-9 officer with the Heath Police Department. Officer Emde testified that, on March 25, 2004, he was asked to conduct a drug sweep on appellant's vehicle using Bella, his K-9 dog. Officer Emde testified that, during the sweep of appellant's vehicle, Bella alerted to drugs in the inside console of the same. The officer then informed Detectives Romano and Cortright about the positive signal from Bella.

{¶ 16} Detective George Romano, who works for the City of Newark and is also assigned to the Central Ohio Drug Enforcement Task Force, testified that Detective Cortright, who is a field supervisor for the task force, received information that either a blue Ford Ranger or a green Toyota with two Hispanic males was "possibly in route to the Newark area with transport of methamphetamine in a large quantity." Transcript at 80. The vehicle, which was described as having Arizona or Indiana plates, was anticipated to arrive in approximately one hour. Based on the information, both marked and unmarked units from the task force, the Licking County Sheriff's Department and the Heath Police Department were aligned along State Route 70 and State Route 79 in an attempt to locate the vehicle.

{¶ 17} Detective Romano testified that, while he was on State Route 79, a beige vehicle with Arizona tags passed by containing two Hispanic males. Deputy Sheriff Spung was then told to "effect a probable cause stop, to find a reason, to see if there was actual reason given to him to make a stop." Transcript at 82. Detective Romano testified that, after the stop, appellant was arrested because his driver's license was under suspension. After Bella alerted to drugs, Detectives Romano and Cortright began searching the vehicle in order to conduct an inventory and also to search for drugs. Detective Romano testified that when he looked inside the center arm rest console, he observed four plastic baggies containing a white powdery substance. Further search of the vehicle yielded one large baggie containing white powder near the gearshift knob. The following is an excerpt from Detective Romano's trial testimony:

{¶ 18} "Q. You're not talking about the actual knob itself; you're talking about the base of the shifting lever?

{¶ 19} "A. Correct, sir, the trim, if you will, around it.

{¶ 20} "Q. Okay. You said that you looked at it, and did you notice something about it?

{¶ 21} "A. I did, sir. Obviously it's right in my face. I work with vehicles quite often. Vehicles are put together in a nice, clean manner. This particular console, that cover was raised up, I don't know, maybe a quarter of an inch, if that high. It was not fitting like it should be. With that being out of the ordinary, I popped that up. . . ." Transcript at 91-92. The detective requested that fingerprint analysis be conducted on the baggies.

{¶ 22} Detective Romano further testified that there were no clothes or luggage in the vehicle and that he was "struck by the lack of contents in the vehicle" since someone traveling from Arizona to Ohio would most likely have some type of luggage. Transcript at 98. When asked, the detective testified that the current street value of methamphetamine is $100.00 a gram and that approximately $35,000.00 worth of methamphetamines were found.

{¶ 23} Detective Romano, when questioned on cross-examination about who Detective Cortright received the information about the vehicle containing two Hispanic males from, testified that, due to an on-going investigation, he was unable to reveal the name of such individual. After a brief side bar discussion, Detective Romano, however, did testify that such information came from an individual who had been arrested based on a narcotics investigation in another city.

{¶ 24} The next witness to testify at trial was Timothy Elliget, a criminalist with the City of Newark who is an expert in the area of drug testing identification and fingerprint analysis. Elliget testified that each of the baggies found in the vehicle was weighed individually and then a combined weight was determined and that the baggies were rebagged into 13 baggies.

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Bluebook (online)
2005 Ohio 4714, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-morales-unpublished-decision-9-9-2005-ohioctapp-2005.