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Father who sold cocaine from his home loses appeal

ANNIE YAMSON
Special to the Legal News

Published: August 4, 2015

The 11th District Court of Appeals recently ruled that enough evidence existed to convict Byron Alston on drug charges, including trafficking cocaine.

Alston appealed from the sentencing judgment in a criminal action before the Lake County Court of Common Pleas.

Case summary states that a two-day jury trial resulted in findings of guilt on six fifth-degree felony drug offenses.

Under his sole assignment of error on appeal, Alston maintained that two of the six charges should have been dismissed because the state failed to present sufficient evidence to satisfy the elements of trafficking in drugs and possessing criminal tools.

“We hold that the record supports appellant’s convictions,” Judge Thomas Wright wrote on behalf of the court of appeals.

The facts of the case state that, in March 2013, two police officers with the Painesville Police Department were conducting surveillance of a rental property that was occupied by Alston, his wife and their children.

Beginning in early April 2013, a confidential informant, identified in court documents as CI-242, made three controlled purchases of cocaine as part of the continuing investigation into Alston’s home.

On all three occasions, CI-242 would purchase $50 worth of cocaine from the same person, who the informant identified as Alston at trial.

After the third controlled purchase, officers obtained a search warrant for the home. Alston was not present at the time of the search but the police found evidence of drug trafficking inside.

In the master bedroom, a small scale was found. Residue on the scale later tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.

A plastic sandwich baggy with cocaine residue and an empty box of plastic baggies were also found in the bedroom.

A trash can in the residence contained the remnants of more plastic baggies, about 10 in all. Each of those bags was missing the two bottom corners, which had been torn off.

Based upon the evidence and the controlled purchases, an indictment was returned against Alston in December 2013.

Six counts charged Alston with trafficking and possession with the assertion that Alston knowingly prepared cocaine for distribution to others.

After his trial, Alston was sentenced to an aggregate prison term of 18 months.

Alston’s sole assignment of error on direct appeal to the 11th District court essentially challenged the sufficiency of the evidence against him.

According to Alston, a scale and baggies with cocaine residue did not prove that he knowingly prepared the drug to sell to others. The court of appeals disagreed.

“The items obtained during the search of the (home) and subsequently introduced into evidence at trial, constitute sufficient evidence demonstrating that cocaine had been prepared for distribution inside the residence,” Wright wrote.

The three-judge appellate panel noted that the digital scale was found in the master bedroom and tested positive for cocaine.

The officer who found the scale testified that “a scale is often used to weigh out the narcotics or items that you’re selling to a weight.”

“In other words, a mere user of cocaine would have no need for a scale, while a distributor of cocaine would need a scale to ensure that he was selling an amount of the drug that was consistent with the amount of money received,” Wright wrote.

The officer who found the 10 baggies with missing corners in the trash can also testified.

“Because in drug trafficking a person will take a bulk amount and will cut it up in smaller amounts to serve to people as they request it, you can have a large amount of crack cocaine, you can cut it and put smaller rocks in the corner of these bags, twist them up and rip them off and the rest of the bag is useless, you can’t use it for anything,” the officer stated.

He went on to testify that a mere user of cocaine would have a bunch of empty baggy corners sitting around, but a dealer would have the rest of the bag because he is the one preparing the product for sale.

“Thus, when considered together, the scales and the baggy remnants establish that cocaine was being weighed on the scale and then placed into the sandwich baggies in a method that was typically used to distribute the drug to other persons,” Wright wrote. “According to the testimony of the two investigating officers, the presence of these items in the home was only consistent with the preparation of cocaine to others, not its mere usage.”

Alston went on to contend that there was nothing directly connecting him to the digital scale.

The court of appeals quickly rejected that argument, noting that the scale was found in the master bedroom on top of a closet that contained Alston’s clothing.

“When viewed in a light most favorable to the prosecution, the evidence it presented at trial was sufficient for any rational trier of fact to find that all elements for trafficking cocaine had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” Wright concluded. “The judgment of the Lake County Court of Common Pleas is affirmed.”

Presiding Judge Timothy Cannon and Judge Diane Grendell concurred.

The case is cited State v. Alston, 2015-Ohio-2723.

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