State v. Napier

Citations

• 163 N.E.3d 1114
• 2020 Ohio 5457

Syllabus

Overruling four of its previous cases, the appellate court found the trial court erred by granting appellee's motion to dismiss an indictment charging appellee with various drug offenses based on the state's failure to adhere to the requirements set forth by R.C. 2925.51(E) without first finding the state had acted in bad faith by destroying the substance that served as the basis of those charged offenses where the evidence that was destroyed was only potentially useful evidence that could aid in appellee's defense rather than materially exculpatory evidence that could be used to exonerate appellee of the crimes for which he was charged. Therefore, because there was no evidence to indicate the state had acted in bad faith when it destroyed the evidence at issue, the trial court's decision to grant appellee's motion to dismiss the indictment was error.