2012 Ohio 2304
Ohio Ct. App.2012Background
- Banks was convicted by jury of drug trafficking, drug possession, endangering children, possessing criminal tools, and tampering with records; sentenced to seven years.
- CMHA police received a tip from a confidential reliable informant about Banks in a van; surveillance followed.
- Banks gave a false name and later admitted ownership of the drugs; drugs and a scale were found in the van.
- Martina Jackson, mother of two children in the van, testified Banks owned the drugs; she agreed to testify for plead guilty.
- The trial court denied Banks’s suppression motion; the jury convicted on all counts; appeal challenges suppression and endangering-children verdicts.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whether the stop and questioning violated the Fourth Amendment | Banks contends there was no reasonable suspicion. | State contends it was a consensual encounter not a seizure. | No reversible error; encounter was consensual under totality of circumstances. |
| Whether the endangering-children conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence | Conviction could not rest on Banks fathering only two of the three children. | Control over a child suffices; third child could be in Banks’s custody. | Not against the manifest weight; third child could be found in Banks’s custody. |
Key Cases Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 373 U.S. 1 (1968) (stop-and-frisk framework; Terry stop concept)
- Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967) ( Fourth Amendment search/seizure standard)
- Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429 (1991) (consensual encounters on buses do not always implicate seizure)
- State v. Burnside, 100 Ohio St.3d 152 (2003) (mixed question standard for suppression; appellate review of facts)