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11th District grants new trial for alleged Portage County shooter
TRACEY BLAIR
Legal News Reporter
Published: August 17, 2020
A Portage County trial court erred by allowing evidence of past drug convictions when a defendant went on trial in a Ravenna bar shooting, which resulted in an unfair trial, the 11th District recently ruled.
Cameron M. Miller was indicted in December 2018 for attempted murder, two counts of felonious assault, aggravated robbery, having weapons under disability. All counts contained firearm specifications.
After a jury trial in March 2019, Miller was convicted of felonious assault and the weapons charge and acquitted on the others. He was sentenced to eight years in prison for felonious assault and three years for the weapons count, to be served consecutively, plus an additional three for the specification.
Case summary indicates that on Sept. 5, 2016, Walter Collins, victim DeAngelo Frost, and Frost’s girlfriend, Monisha Hite, went to a Ravenna bar called the Den. While inside, Collins saw Miller, an acquaintance, outside drinking with a few other individuals: Marquita Jordan, Ty Jordan, and Miller’s girlfriend, Brianna Woods.
Collins testified that Frost and Miller got into an argument at the bar after Miller sent him messages that he owed Jordan child support. Frost allegedly told Collins that he knew Miller had a gun but was not worried about it.
Collins said Miller told Frost, “Give me all your money,” then pulled out a gun and pointed it to Frost’s head. Frost slapped the gun, which went up in the air, and ran.
Collins said Frost ran around the corner toward another bar, and more shots were fired in short succession. Collins did not see some of the shots because he was hiding. He described the gun used as a silver semiautomatic and believed the gun presented by the state looked like the one used by Miller.
Ravenna Detective Duane Kaley investigated this case and characterized Miller and Frost as “street rivals.” Kaley testified Frost had been shot at in a Ravenna gas station parking lot on Aug. 19, 2016, and the day after the Den shooting, Miller was shot in Ravenna. Frost was a suspect in the latter shooting.
Kaley indicated that he had interviewed Frost but did not recall parts of the interview. The prosecutor was permitted to play the audio of the taped interview to refresh his recollection, under defense objection.
The state conceded that Frost’s interview contained testimonial statements which were the result of police attempting to establish events relating to criminal prosecution, that were not made during an emergency, and the record did not indicate he was unavailable for trial. Thus, the state admitted that “Miller was denied the right to confront his accuser in violation of the Sixth Amendment [and] the trial court erred in allowing the State to play the recording to refresh Detective Kaley’s recollection.”
Meanwhile, Scott Scislo, Miller’s parole officer from a prior offense, visited Miller’s home on Sept. 16, 2016, after Kaley told him that Miller was the victim of one shooting and a suspect in another. Multiple people were with Miller in the home and one man appeared to be trying to hide something in the couch, which led Scislo to conduct a search. During that search, he recovered a silver and black Smith and Wesson handgun in the living room under a pile of clothes and next to prescription medication bearing Miller’s name. He also collected a cell phone which Miller admitted he owned.
Scislo testified regarding a journal entry from Summit County which showed Miller was convicted in November 2016 for having weapons while under disability, relating to the recovery of the firearm from his house.
Detective Paul Fafrak of the Kent Police Department testified that Miller had been convicted of trafficking in drugs and possession of cocaine in 2010 in Portage County, and that this would bar someone from possessing or owning firearms.
During closing arguments, the defense raised multiple motions for a mistrial relating to the jury and juror conduct, which were denied.
In a 3-0 decision written by 11th District Judge Matt Lynch, the appellate court agreed and remanded the case for a new trial.
“There is no question that Miller agreed to stipulate to the fact that he had a prior drug conviction that prohibited him from possessing or using a firearm for the purposes of a having weapons while under disability charge,” Lynch wrote. “Nonetheless, multiple witnesses were permitted to testify as to the nature of the felony drug convictions, identifying the drug offenses committed, and reference the judgment entries of conviction, over defense counsel’s objections. The state concedes that under Creech, this was impermissible as the evidence of the nature of the convictions was unnecessary to establish the element of having a prior conviction. It contends, however, that reversal is not warranted because it did not impact the jury’s verdict.
“As to both the Confrontation Clause issue and the admission of the testimony regarding the prior drug convictions, there is no question that error was committed. The question is whether the other evidence in the record was of an overwhelming nature such that it could overcome this error and ensure that Miller was not deprived of the right to a fair trial. We find that it is not.”
Lynch added that while it could be argued that, taken individually, either the Confrontation Clause error or the other bad acts error alone may not have resulted in an unfair outcome, together, there is no question that this was the case.
“Due to the errors, the jury was presented with evidence that Miller was the type of defendant who possessed and trafficked drugs, specifically cocaine, resulting in prejudice,” Lynch wrote. “Further, rather than weighing whether the testimony of Collins alone was sufficient to identify Miller as the shooter, the jury had before it the statement of the victim, who may have been best suited to identify Miller. These glaring errors cannot be overcome by the evidence in the record, which does not rise to the level of ‘overwhelming.’ Only one witness testified who could identify Miller as the shooter, Collins. Reasonable issues were raised regarding his credibility, including a prior dispute he had with Miller, his criminal record and residence in NEOCAP, and that he had been drinking on the night of the shooting. Despite all of the other individuals present at the Den during the shooting, no other eyewitness testimony identifying Miller was presented.
“While other pieces of evidence were present in the record to increase the likelihood of Miller’s involvement, i.e., the firearm and cell phone record testimony, neither of these act to identify Miller as the shooter. Such evidence could easily place him at the bar with a different shooter borrowing his gun, since fingerprint and DNA evidence were never collected from the gun by police, or even at another location in Ravenna. Similarly, evidence such as jail phone call records show that Miller may have had some dispute with Frost, not that he was involved in the shooting. Taken together, this evidence is simply not sufficient to overcome the errors made in the trial court. “
Appellate judges Timothy P. Cannon and Cynthia Westcott Rice concurred.
The case is cited State v. Miller, 2020-Ohio-3854.