State v. Thompson

622 N.E.2d 735, 87 Ohio App. 3d 570, 1993 Ohio App. LEXIS 2445
CourtOhio Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 5, 1993
DocketNo. 2135.
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 622 N.E.2d 735 (State v. Thompson) 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. Thompson, 622 N.E.2d 735, 87 Ohio App. 3d 570, 1993 Ohio App. LEXIS 2445 (Ohio Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

Dickinson, Judge.

The defendant in this matter was convicted, after a jury trial, of two counts of trafficking in drugs in violation of R.C. 2925.03(A)(1) and (5). He appealed to this court, originally assigning three errors: (1) that the trial court incorrectly denied him access through discovery to certain police reports; (2) that the trial court improperly allowed the state to introduce a tape recording of a telephone conversation in which defendant had participated; and (3) that the jury’s verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence. Defendant subsequently retained new counsel and moved for leave to file additional assignments of error. That motion was granted and he filed six “supplemental” assignments of error. We find all nine of defendant’s assignments of error to be without merit and the decision of the trial court is affirmed.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Defendant’s conviction stemmed from two drug transactions that occurred on consecutive days during May 1991. Both transactions involved sales of drugs to an undercover police officer and, on both occasions, a confidential police informant participated in the sales.

The first transaction was a sale of Percocet tablets. At trial, defendant claimed that he did not know that the sale was going to occur until immediately before it took place and that he resisted involvement in the transaction. He testified that the confidential informant had picked him up at his home and offered to buy him lunch. He claimed that the informant drove him to a parking lot at a K-Mart where the transaction occurred. According to the defendant, the informant took a bag containing the Percocet from the car’s glove box and sold them to the undercover police officer who had been waiting for them at that location. Defendant testified that, although the informant wanted defendant to hand the tablets to the officer, he refused to do so and did not participate in the transaction in any way.

On the following day, the informant again picked defendant up at his home and they then picked up another individual. The three of them next met with the undercover officer and arrangements were made for the informant, the defendant and the third individual to travel to East Cleveland, obtain crack cocaine and deliver it to the officer. Those arrangements were carried out. Defendant admitted that he knew what was occurring during the course of the second *574 transaction, but again denied that he participated in any way other than being present.

The undercover officer testified at trial and provided a different view of defendant’s role in the transactions. The officer testified that, during the first transaction, he (the officer) stood by the window on the driver’s side of the automobile adjacent to where the informant was seated. Defendant, who was in the front passenger seat, picked the Percocet up from the center console of the automobile and handed it to the informant, who than passed it to the officer. He also testified that, when asked how many tablets were in the bag containing the Percocet, defendant responded that there were sixty-seven. He stated that he asked if the price was still $3 apiece and that defendant became upset and said:

“ T thought we agreed on $200 for the bag.’
“I said, okay, that would be fine, if there was sixty-seven in there.”

Finally, the officer said that he handed the money to the informant who placed it on the center console of the automobile.

The officer’s testimony regarding the second transaction was that defendant participated in price negotiations for the crack cocaine. Specifically, he said that defendant agreed to a reduction in price of $30 for the cocaine because the officer told him that the bag of Percocet from the previous day had contained only fifty-seven tablets instead of sixty-seven tablets. He also testified that, when he asked who wanted to count the money, defendant said that he would, took it from the officer and counted it. He testified that the third individual present during the second transaction actually delivered the crack cocaine to him. The jury found defendant guilty on both counts.

II. DISCUSSION

A. DEFENDANT’S FIRST ASSIGNMENT OF ERROR

Defendant’s first assignment of error was that the trial court incorrectly denied him access to certain police reports through discovery. Specifically, prior to trial, defendant filed a “discovery motion” by which he sought all Brunswick city police reports and all police reports of the Medina-Wayne Drug Enforcement Agency pertaining to himself and the confidential informant who was involved in the transactions that led to his prosecution. According to his “motion,” defendant was “requesting” the prosecuting attorney to produce the reports “pursuant to Ohio Criminal Rule 16 and Ohio Revised Code Section 149.43.” The prosecutor did not produce the requested documents and defendant moved for an order compelling discovery. The trial court denied defendant’s motion, stating that police reports are not discoverable.

*575 Defendant has argued that he was entitled to discovery of the requested police reports pursuant to R.C. 149.43, Ohio’s public records statute. He has not argued that those reports were discoverable pursuant to Crim.R. 16.

There have been a number of Ohio Supreme Court decisions that have explored different aspects of the use of R.C. 149.43 by a party to a criminal action. For example, in State ex rel. Scanlon v. Deters (1989), 45 Ohio St.3d 376, 544 N.E.2d 680, the court found that a criminal defendant who had attempted to obtain documents through a request pursuant to R.C. 149.43 could not maintain a mandamus action to challenge the refusal to provide those documents. Rather, inasmuch as the documents he sought were discoverable pursuant to Crim.R. 16, he had an adequate alternative remedy:

“Where Crim.R. 16 provides a relator an adequate alternative remedy to R.C. 149.43, he cannot be granted a writ of mandamus ordering the production of public records available under such rule.” Id. at paragraph two of the syllabus.

In State ex rel. Shane v. New Philadelphia Police Dept. (1990), 56 Ohio St.3d 36, 564 N.E.2d 89, the Supreme Court again considered an appeal from a denial of a writ of mandamus following a refusal to provide documents to a criminal defendant pursuant to a R.C. 149.43 request. The requested documents in Shane, however, unlike those that were requested in Scanlon, were not clearly available to the defendant through the use of Crim.R. 16. Regardless of that distinction, the Supreme Court concluded that the writ of mandamus had properly been refused because of the availability of an adequate alternative remedy:

“[W]e conclude Shane had an adequate legal remedy, criminal discovery, to test any right he had to obtain these documents as public records. Trial courts can decide R.C. 149.43 issues in the discovery process. * * * If the trial court wrongfully decided the R.C.

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

Related

Buckeye N. Coatings, L.L.C. v. Reeves
2025 Ohio 5469 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2025)
State v. Barger
2016 Ohio 443 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2016)
Masucci v. Burnbrier
2015 Ohio 4102 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2015)
State v. Hudson
2014 Ohio 1712 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2014)
State v. Justice
2011 Ohio 4004 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2011)
State v. Coles, 90330 (10-2-2008)
2008 Ohio 5129 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Gunner, L-06-1385 (4-18-2008)
2008 Ohio 1857 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2008)
State v. Williams, Unpublished Decision (9-14-2006)
2006 Ohio 4768 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2006)
State v. Runnion, Unpublished Decision (10-22-2004)
2004 Ohio 5637 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2004)
State v. Prade
745 N.E.2d 475 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2000)
State v. Baker
739 N.E.2d 819 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2000)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
622 N.E.2d 735, 87 Ohio App. 3d 570, 1993 Ohio App. LEXIS 2445, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-thompson-ohioctapp-1993.