State v. Peabody
| Docket Number | E-22-042 |
| Decision Date | 19 January 2024 |
| Citation | 2024 Ohio 185 |
| Parties | State of Ohio Appellee v. William J. Peabody Appellant |
| Court | Ohio Court of Appeals |
1
2024-Ohio-185
State of Ohio Appellee
v.
William J. Peabody Appellant
No. E-22-042
Court of Appeals of Ohio, Sixth District, Erie
January 19, 2024
Trial Court No. 2017CR0487
Kevin J. Baxter, Erie County Prosecuting Attorney, and Kristin R. Palmer, Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, for appellee.
Brian A. Smith, for appellant.
DECISION AND JUDGMENT
MAYLE, J.
{¶ 1} Defendant-appellant, William J. Peabody, appeals the September 6, 2022 judgment of the Erie County Court of Common Pleas, convicting him of several drug possession and trafficking offenses and sentencing him to an aggregate prison term of 95 months. For the following reasons, we affirm, in part, and reverse, in part.
I. Background
{¶ 2} William Peabody was charged with drug possession and trafficking offenses arising out of two incidents. The first incident occurred on January 27, 2017. Peabody was charged with possession of cocaine, a violation of R.C. 2925.11(A) and (C)(4)(a), a fifth-degree felony (Count 1); and two counts of aggravated possession of drugs, violations of R.C. 2925.11(A) and (C)(1)(a), fifth-degree felonies (Counts 2 and 3). The second incident occurred on February 27, 2017. Peabody was charged with possession of cocaine, a violation of R.C. 2925.11(A) and (C)(4)(a), a fifth-degree felony (Count 4); complicity in the commission of possession of heroin, a violation of R.C. 2923.03(A) and (F), a second-degree felony (Count 5); complicity in the commission of trafficking of heroin, a violation of R.C. 2923.03(A)(2) and (F), a second-degree felony (Count 6); complicity in the commission of possession of cocaine, a violation of R.C. 2923.03(A)(2) and (F), a fifth-degree felony (Count 7); and complicity in the commission of trafficking of cocaine, a violation of R.C. 2923.03(A)(2) and (F), a fifth-degree felony (Count 8).
{¶ 3} The matter proceeded to a jury trial beginning on June 27, 2022. The state presented testimony from Sergeant Troy Dillinger, Detective Ron Brotherton, and Lieutenant Danny Lewis of the Sandusky Police Department; Deputy Chad Henderson of the Erie County Sheriffs Department; Detective Joseph Rotuno of the Perkins Township Police Department; Sara Tipton, Samuel Fortener, and Kelsey Degen, forensic scientists
with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations; and Kyohn Green-Burton and Misty Schultz, two of Peabody's co-defendants.
A. The January 27, 2017 Incident
{¶ 4} According to the evidence presented at trial, on January 27, 2017, Sergeant Dillinger was patrolling the area near the Value Inn in Sandusky, a location known to law enforcement for illegal drug transactions and use. He was dressed in uniform and driving a marked police cruiser. A vehicle caught his attention; the driver rolled down the window as if he was going to say something to Sergeant Dillinger, but he didn't.
{¶ 5} Sergeant Dillinger drove a little further down the street, but continued to monitor the Value Inn at a distance. The vehicle he had noticed before pulled out. Sergeant Dillinger observed that the vehicle had an excessively loud exhaust, so he initiated a traffic stop. He made contact with the driver, who identified himself as William Peabody. He was alone in the vehicle.
{¶ 6} Peabody told Sergeant Dillinger that he was aware that his exhaust was loud, and he also told him that his driver's license was expired. He said that he had had two passengers in his vehicle, but they exited his vehicle quickly because they had recently been released from prison and may have had outstanding warrants. Sergeant Dillinger recognized the name of one of the men and knew him to use illegal drugs. Sergeant Dillinger also knew that Peabody was associated with drugs.
{¶ 7} Sergeant Dillinger asked Peabody for consent to search the vehicle, which belonged to Peabody's father. He declined, insisting that there was nothing illegal in the vehicle. Sergeant Dillinger called for the K-9 unit to do a free air sniff. The dog alerted to the odor of narcotics.
{¶ 8} Sergeant Dillinger instructed Peabody to exit the vehicle. As he did, a syringe fell off his lap. Peabody agreed to allow Sergeant Dillinger to search his person; no contraband was found during that search. A search of his vehicle did, however, lead to the recovery of drug-related items, including: (1) a metal spoon with white, filmy residue on it, retrieved from the center console; (2) two metal spoons with residue and burns, retrieved from the back seat; (3) a crack pipe stuffed with wire mesh, retrieved from the back seat; and (4) a metal tube with residue and a crack pipe with residue stashed in the ventilation system. Sergeant Dillinger conceded that the crack pipes were located in the vent such that they would not be visible from the driver's seat. They could not be removed immediately because the officers did not have the tools to remove them there; they were removed after the vehicle was towed. Lieutenant Danny Lewis removed the items using a coat hanger. Syringes and prescriptions belonging to Peabody's father, a diabetic, were also found in the vehicle, but were not confiscated. The spoon from the console and one of the spoons from the backseat were from a matching set.
{¶ 9} Sergeant Dillinger decided not to arrest Peabody, but rather to test the items first. The items were brought to the station, tagged and bagged, and secured for testing
by BCI. Sergeant Dillinger acknowledged that he did not see anything illegal just by looking into the car. He did not attempt to gather fingerprints from any of the items and did not administer blood, urine, or field sobriety tests.
{¶ 10} Peabody's father retrieved the car. He said the syringes were in the car because he was diabetic. Peabody's father is now deceased.
{¶ 11} Another officer, Sergeant Lillo, told Sergeant Dillinger that he saw two passengers in the vehicle earlier. Sergeant Dillinger did not know if those passengers were both in the backseat. The passengers quickly distanced themselves from the vehicle when they saw Sergeant Lillo drive through the parking lot.
{¶ 12} Testing later revealed that the spoon found in the center console had trace amounts of cocaine, fentanyl, and 3-methylfentanyl. A metal tube had trace amounts of cocaine. Testing of those items was performed by Sara Tipton, a forensic scientist in the drug chemistry section of the BCI. The two metal spoons from the backseat, one of the metal tubes, and the glass tube were not tested. Sergeant Dillinger explained that it is his practice to charge the person who is in immediate possession of the contraband.
B. The February 27, 2017 Incident
{¶ 13} The Sandusky Police Department received information from a female informant that Peabody was in possession of $10,000 worth of illegal drugs that he and another man transported from Lansing, Michigan. The informant ("CI") stated that Peabody was staying at a hotel and that she could buy heroin from him. Detective Ron
Brotherton contacted the Perkins County Police Department. Together, Detective Brotherton, Lieutenant Danny Lewis, Detective Joseph Rotuno, and Detective Roesch, also of the Perkins Township Police Department, established a joint investigation. Lieutenant Lewis was the lead investigator.
1. Testimony from Law Enforcement and BCI
{¶ 14} On February 27, 2017, law enforcement arranged for the CI to make a controlled buy of narcotics from Peabody using marked bills. Detective Brotherton and Lieutenant Lewis set up surveillance at Walmart, next to the hotel where they believed Peabody was staying. Detectives Rotuno and Roesch set up surveillance at the hotel. The officers searched the CI and her vehicle to ensure that she was not carrying other drugs or money. She was given $310 in marked money, which police had photocopied before giving to her. Officers wrote down the phone number she used to call Peabody.
{¶ 15} The CI picked up Peabody outside Walmart. They had a short conversation, then Peabody gave her 1.6 grams of what was determined by BCI to be heroin and fentanyl in exchange for $310. She dropped him off at the hotel. Afterwards, the CI gave the drugs to the officers and they again searched her and her vehicle. Although the officers did not see the hand-to-hand exchange of drugs for money, the CI gave them a report of what happened during the transaction.
{¶ 16} Peabody was followed after completing the transaction. He went to the second floor of the Super 8 hotel, room 213. An hour later, Peabody and Misty Schultz
left the hotel in a rental car and headed to a gas station near the hotel. Detective Brotherton had a warrant to serve on Peabody, so he and Detective Roesch followed him. Lieutenant Lewis and Detective Rotuno stayed at the hotel and continued to surveil the room.
{¶ 17} Detectives Brotherton and Roesch arrested Peabody at the gas station. Peabody was in the driver's seat and Schultz was seated in the front seat of the vehicle. The officers searched Peabody and found that he was carrying a bindle of drugs, drug paraphernalia, and $10 of the marked money. Miniature balloons were also found in the vehicle. It was common in 2017 for traffickers to transport illegal narcotics in balloons.
{¶ 18} Schultz revealed that she had rented the hotel room, which gave her control over the room. Schultz agreed to cooperate with officers. She was escorted back to the hotel, where she consented to a search of the room. They retrieved a key from the front desk. Schultz denied that anyone else was in the room, but when Detective Rotuno and Lieutenant Lewis opened the door, they saw two people. Schultz was ordered to the ground.
{¶ 19} The two occupants of the room were identified as Kyohn Green-Burton and Natasia Coles-Phillippi. Detective Rotuno immediately saw a large bag of what appeared to be crack cocaine on the nightstand between the two beds. He saw syringes and bindles of packaged drugs next to...
To continue reading
Request your trial