State v. Sealey

2019 Ohio 3692
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided September 13, 2019·No. 28206·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT MONTGOMERY COUNTY

STATE OF OHIO :

:

Plaintiff-Appellee : Appellate Case No. 28206 :

v. : Trial Court Case No. 2014-CR-4096 :

ERIC SEALEY : (Criminal Appeal from : Common Pleas Court)

Defendant-Appellant :

:

...........

OPINION

Rendered on the 13th day of September, 2019.

...........

MATHIAS H. HECK, JR., by ANDREW T. FRENCH, Atty. Reg. No. 0069384, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office, Appellate Division, Montgomery County Courts Building, 301 West Third Street, 5th Floor, Dayton, Ohio 45422 Attorney for Plaintiff-Appellee

JON PAUL RION, Atty. Reg. No. 0067020, KEVIN M. DARNELL, Atty. Reg. No. 0095952, and CATHERINE BREAULT, Atty. Reg. No. 0098433, 130 West Second Street, Suite 2150, Dayton, Ohio 45402 Attorney for Defendant-Appellant

.............

DONOVAN, J.

{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant Eric Sealey appeals his conviction for the following offenses: Count I, possession of cocaine (equals or exceeds 100 grams), in violation of R.C. 2925.11(A), a felony of the first degree; Count II, possession of heroin, in violation of R.C. 2925.11(A), a felony of the fifth degree; and Count III, having weapons while under disability, in violation of R.C. 2923.13(A)(3), a felony of the third degree. Sealey filed a timely notice of appeal with this Court on November 15, 2018.

{¶ 2} The record establishes that on December 16, 2013, a housekeeper employed by at the Extended Stay Hotel in Butler Township was cleaning Room 109. Upon emptying the garbage can in the room, the housekeeper observed a handgun and what appeared to be contraband narcotics located in the bottom of the garbage can. The housekeeper immediately contacted the hotel manager and informed her of the discovery of the gun and drugs. The manager then retrieved the hotel master key and used it to gain entrance to Room 109, wherein she was able to observe what the housekeeper had discovered. The hotel manager contacted Bureau of Criminal Investigations Special Agent Richard Miller and informed him that a gun and drugs had been discovered in one of the hotel’s rooms.

{¶ 3} Agent Miller testified that he was part of the Miami Valley Bulk Smuggling Task Force. The task force was comprised of local and regional law enforcement officers whose job involved the investigation of illegal drug and gun activity occurring on Miller Lane in Butler Township. In order to facilitate their investigations, Agent Miller and other members of the task force would routinely contact hotel managers in the area and inform them of the nature of the task force’s work. The task force would also ask the managers

to contact them if any suspicious or illegal activity was observed at the hotels. The record establishes that the hotel manager had provided information regarding illegal activity on the hotel premises to the task force on several prior occasions and had been financially compensated for the information she provided at least twice, being paid approximately $50 on each occasion. Based upon her prior relationship with the task force, the hotel manager contacted Agent Miller on December 16, 2013, and reported the gun and drugs located in Room 109. Agent Miller instructed the manager to place all of the alleged contraband back into the garbage can and leave the room looking as undisturbed as possible. The manager placed the gun and the drugs back in the garbage can and left the room. Agent Miller also instructed the manager to “rekey” the lock on the door to the room, essentially locking the occupants out. The manager testified that, after calling the task force, she had no further interaction with the task force or the Defendant until she was later paid $50 by Agent Miller for providing them with information.

{¶ 4} Agent Miller obtained the hotel guest registry for that day and found that Room 109 had been rented by a woman named Felicia Oglesby several days earlier on December 7, 2013. Upon further investigation, Agent Miller discovered that a known associate of Oglesby was the defendant-appellant, Eric Sealey, who had prior convictions for drug possession and trafficking. In light of this information, as well as the housekeeper’s discovery of a gun and drugs in the hotel room, Agent Miller was able to obtain a warrant to search Room 109. The warrant also provided the task force with the authority to search the persons of Sealey and Oglesby.

{¶ 5} Once the search warrant had been obtained, members of the task force maintained surveillance of Room 109, waiting for Sealey and/or Oglesby to return.

Shortly thereafter, Sealey and Oglesby returned to the hotel room but were unable to gain access because the lock had been rekeyed. Sealey and Oglesby then went to the hotel office to get another key. After being provided with a working key, Sealey and Oglesby walked back to Room 109 at which point they were immediately detained by the task force before they could gain access to the room.

{¶ 6} Pursuant to a patdown, Officer Samuel Hemingway discovered a small baggie of what appeared to be cocaine in one of Sealey’s front pants pockets. The task force then gained access to the hotel room, wherein the following items were seized: 1) 262 grams of cocaine; 2) a loaded handgun; 3) a small quantity of heroin in the bottom of the trashcan; 4) small quantities of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana on the nightstand; 5) approximately $2,400 in cash on the nightstand; 6) a digital scale and plastic baggies above the microwave; 7) men’s clothing located on a chair next to the nightstand; and 8) a Vectren utility bill addressed to Sealey on the desk in the room. Lab analysis later confirmed that Sealey was a major contributor of DNA found on the large bag of cocaine as well as the baggie of heroin found in the bottom of the garbage can.

{¶ 7} On April 3, 2015, Sealey was indicted for Count I, possession of cocaine (equals or exceeds 100 grams); Count II, possession of heroin; and Count III, having weapons while under disability (prior drug conviction). At his arraignment on April 21, 2015, Sealey pled not guilty to the charged offenses.

{¶ 8} On April 24, 2015, Sealey filed a motion to suppress the physical evidence seized from Room 109 pursuant to the search warrant issued on December 16, 2013. A hearing was held on said motion on July 9 and August 6, 2015. On August 24, 2015, the trial court issued a decision overruling Sealey’s motion to suppress, finding that the

search warrant was supported by probable cause, that the information supporting the probable cause determination was not stale, and that the warrant identified the persons and place to be searched with sufficient particularity.

{¶ 9} Before trial, evidence was discovered that the hotel manager had later been financially compensated by the task force for the information she provided to them, which led to the issuance of the search warrant and subsequent search of Sealey’s person and the hotel room wherein the contraband was discovered. Thus, Sealey filed a second motion to suppress in which he argued that the manager had been a paid police informant who was acting as an “agent of the state.” He asserted that her initial warrantless entry into the hotel room was unlawful. A second hearing was held, and in a decision issued on January 4, 2018, the trial court overruled Sealey’s second motion to suppress, concluding that the evidence established that the manager was not acting as an agent of the state when she entered the hotel room in order to verify the information provided by the housekeeper. Rather, the trial court found that the manager was acting pursuant to her duties as an employee of the hotel and was not under any direction or control of law enforcement when she initially entered the hotel room.

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State v. Sealey, 2019 Ohio 3692 (Ohio Ct. App. 2019).

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