State v. Goodwin, Unpublished Decision (10-23-2000)
State v. Goodwin, Unpublished Decision (10-23-2000)
Opinion of the Court
OPINION
On January 8, 2000, members of the Canton Police Department S.W.A.T. Team and Vice Unit executed a search warrant at the residence of Mark Hill, located at 2004 2nd Street, N.E., in Canton. Detective Charles Saylor of the S.W.A.T. Team, served as the point man as the police executed the warrant. When the officers identified themselves as police, Mark Hill slammed the door shut. The officers broke through the glass and screen door, and rammed the inner door. When the police entered the home, Mark Hill ran to the kitchen area of the house, and turned right. Two officers chased Hill. Detective Saylor went to the left and then straight, and came to a counter which divided the kitchen from the living room. Appellant Bobby Odell Goodwin was standing by the counter. Saylor observed a torn piece of plastic in appellant's right hand. The detective ordered appellant to the ground. Appellant did not comply, but turned and placed his right hand on the counter, laying the piece of plastic on the counter. When Detective Saylor grabbed appellant to place him on the ground, he saw appellant throw something from his right hand, which Detective Saylor could not retrieve. Saylor noticed several brown fragments on top of the plastic appellant placed on the counter. From his experience, Saylor believed the objects were rocks of cocaine. As Saylor was securing appellant, he noticed that the other officers had Mark Hill on the ground. He was not sure if Hill was thrown to the ground or went down on his own, as the officers were sliding in dog urine and water on the floor. Hill was struggling as the officers attempted to handcuff him, and chewing on something. Eventually, officers forced Hill to spit out the crack-cocaine he was attempting to swallow. After the house had been secured by the S.W.A.T. Team, Officer Michael Reese, of the Vice Unit, entered the residence to execute the search warrant. He saw appellant laying on the kitchen floor, and searched him incident to arrest. Appellant had $400 in his right shoe underneath the insole, and $126 in his front pants pocket. The money tested negative for cocaine residue. Appellant was indicted by the Stark County Grand Jury with one count of possession of cocaine, in violation of R.C.APPELLANT'S CONVICTION ON ONE COUNT POSSESSION OF COCAINE IS AGAINST THE MANIFEST WEIGHT AND SUFFICIENCY OF THE EVIDENCE.
Appellant argues that the conviction is supported by insufficient evidence, and that the jury's verdict is against the manifest weight of the evidence. Both claims focus primarily on Detective Saylor's identification of appellant. Appellant argues that Detective Saylor mistook appellant for his uncle, Mark Hill, as the person in possession of the crack-cocaine. With respect to sufficiency of the evidence, sufficiency is a term of art meaning the legal standard applied to determine whether the case may go to the jury, or whether the evidence is legally sufficient to support the verdict as a matter of law. State v. Thompkins (1997),
The judgment of the Stark County Common Pleas Court is affirmed.
By Gwin, P.J., Wise, J., and Edwards, J., concur
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.