State v. Thompson

Citations

• 2021 Ohio 3184

Syllabus

AUTOMOBILES/CRIMINAL – TRAFFIC STOP –CONSTITUTIONAL LAW/CRIMINAL – SEARCH AND SEIZURE – HARMLESS ERROR – CRIM.R. 16(K) – DRUGS – EVIDENCE – SENTENCING – CONSECUTIVE SENTENCES: Where the police officer stopped the vehicle in which defendant was a passenger for a traffic offense in a high-drug-trafficking area and during the stop noticed defendant's nervous behavior and furtive movements around the car's center console, the officer had a reasonable suspicion of drug activity necessary to extend the traffic stop while waiting for a K-9 unit to arrive. [See CONCURRENCE: While a \high-crime area\ may be one of several factors justifying an investigative stop, courts should strengthen their review of the \high-crime area\ designation to mitigate concerns about racial, ethnic and socioeconomic profiling that arise when designating an area as \high crime.\] Where the police officer lawfully ordered defendant out of the vehicle, the contraband that was revealed when defendant exited from the vehicle was in plain view, and therefore, its seizure was not unconstitutional. The trial court's admission of marijuana evidence even though defendant was not charged with a marijuana offense constituted harmless error where defense counsel stipulated to the admission of police body-worn-camera videos, which exposed the jury to the presence of marijuana in the vehicle. The crime laboratory drug analyst's testimony did not contravene Crim.R. 16(K) where her expert opinion was confined to her report and did not cause defendant unfair surprise. Defendant's convictions for drug possession were not against the manifest weight of the evidence where the record did not support defendant's arguments that exhibits were \mixed up\ or that \slipshod handling and repackaging of the evidence\ took place. The trial court's imposition of maximum, consecutive sentences was not improper where record did not demonstrate that the court had failed to consider the statutory factors and the record supported t