State v. FairState v. Fair
JUDGMENT: AFFIRMED
RELEASED: May 21, 2009
ATTORNEY FOR APPELLANT
David L. Doughten
The Brownhoist Building
4403 St. Clair Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44103
ATTORNEYS FOR APPELLEE
William D. Mason
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor
Diane Smilanick
Assistant County Prosecutor
8th Floor Justice Center
1200 Ontario Street
Cleveland, Ohio 44113
PATRICIA ANN BLACKMON, J.:
{¶ 1} Appellant Dwayne Fair appeals the trial court‘s denial of his petition for postconviсtion relief without a hearing. He assigns the following error:
“The trial judge erred in failing to grant the appellant an evidentiary hearing as is required by
R.C. 2953.21(C) .”
{¶ 2} Having reviewed the record and pertinent law, we affirm the trial court‘s decision.1 The apposite facts follow.
History
{¶ 3} In May 2001, the Cuyahoga County Grand Jury indicted Fair for drug trafficking and possession of drugs. These charges arose from a controlled buy conducted by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) in cooperation with the North Royalton Police Department. A jury found Fair
{¶ 4} To connect Fair to the crimes, the State introduced a videotape of the drug transaction; the tape was admittedly of poor quality. The State, however, also introduced eyewitness testimony of a police detective who was present during the sale. Fair‘s convictions were affirmed on appeal, but the case was remanded for resentencing.2
{¶ 5} Ultimately, Fair filed a petition for postconviction relief. He alleged that he received ineffeсtive assistance of counsel because his lawyer failed to present alibi evidence concerning a cell phone call that was recorded and evidenced by his cell phone records. He claimed he could not have been involved in the sale because the call, which he placed between eighteen and twenty minutes after the drug transaction, was made from a location that he could not have reached within that time. The trial court denied the petition without a hearing; Fair appealed the decision. This court held as follows:
“The phone records show only that Fair‘s call was routed through thе cell site address at Richmond Road; this does not establish Fair‘s location at the time the call was made, but shows only that he was nearest his carrier‘s transmitting equipment located at that address. Without evidence shоwing a more exact location, this evidence is inconclusive. However, the cell site evidence corroborates the evidence of his arrival at his workplace at 5:39
{¶ 6} Although this court commented on the evidentiary value of the phone records, we did not resolve the case on that issue. We reversed and remanded the trial court‘s denial of Fair‘s petition based on Fair‘s other contention that subsequent phone records corroborated his аccount of a phone message he left for the police detective after he was arrested, in which he attempted to show that he had been mistaken for someone else.4 He claimed the police detective‘s testimony to the contrary destroyed his credibility. This court remanded the matter after concluding that the trial court failed to consider the trial transcript before denying the petition without а hearing as required by
{¶ 7} On remand, the trial court again denied the petition and issued a six-page decision in which it detailed that it had reviewed the petition, “all files and records, and the transcript, pertaining to the рroceedings against Petitioner.”5 The trial court concluded the admission of the cell phone record indicating Fair‘s location after the drug sale and the phone records indicating
Hearing on Petition for Postconviction Relief
{¶ 8} In his sole assigned error, Fair contends the trial court did not follow the directive of this court because it again denied the petition without conducting a hearing or reviewing the transcript in the underlying case. A hearing on a petition for postconviction relief is governed by
“Before granting a hearing, the court shall determine whether there are substantive grounds for relief. In making such a determination, the court shаll consider, in addition to the petition and supporting affidavits, all the files and records pertaining to the proceedings against the petitioner, including, but not limited to, the indictment, the court‘s journal entries, the journalizеd records of the clerk of the court, and the court reporter‘s transcript.”
{¶ 9} Thus, a criminal defendant seeking to challenge his conviction through a petition for postconviction relief is not automatiсally entitled to a hearing.6 The trial court has a statutorily imposed duty to ensure that the petitioner adduces sufficient evidence to warrant a hearing.7 A petition for
{¶ 10} In the instant case, the trial court stated several times in its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law that it considered the transcript when it reviewed Fair‘s petition.10 Thus, there exists no basis for us to conclude the trial court did not consider the transcript prior to denying the petition.
{¶ 11} Moreover, we conclude the trial court properly denied the petition because there is no evidence that Fair was prejudiced by counsel‘s failure to present the cell phone records at trial. To establish a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, a petitioner is required to demonstrate that his counsel‘s actions fell below an objective standard of reasonableness and that such actiоn caused prejudice to appellant‘s case.11
{¶ 13} We did conclude in the prior appeal that the cell site evidence cоrroborates the evidence of his arrival at his workplace at 5:39 p.m. as indicated by the time he signed in at work. However, the detective testified that he himself drove the route from the North Royalton drug site to Fair‘s job site in Richmond Heights in 36 minutes and that was while going the speed limit. Therefore, it was possible for Fair to complete the drug sale at 5:02 p.m. and be at his work site by 5:39 p.m. Because the cell phone records do not demonstrate substantive grounds for relief, we conclude the trial court properly denied Fair‘s petition without a hearing.
State v. Lott (1990), 51 Ohio St.3d 160, 174, certiorari denied (1990), 498 U.S. 1017, 111 S.Ct. 591, 112 L.Ed.2d 596.
“According to the postconviction relief statute, a criminal defendant seeking to challenge his conviction through a petition for postconviction reliеf is not automatically entitled to a hearing. State v. Cole (1982), 2 Ohio St.3d 112, 2 Ohio B. Rep. 661, 443 N.E.2d 169. Before granting an evidentiary hearing on the petition, the trial court shall determine whether there are substantive grounds for relief (
R.C. 2953.21[C] ), i.e., whether there arе grounds to believe that ‘there was such a denial or infringement of the person‘s rights as to render the judgment void or voidable under the Ohio Constitution or the Constitution of the United States.’ (Emphasis added.)R.C. 2953.21(A)(1) .”14
{¶ 15} The Court went on to further state:
“In the interest of judicial eсonomy and efficiency, we have held that it is not unreasonable to require the defendant to show in his petition for postconviction relief that such errors resulted in prejudice before a hearing is schedulеd. See State v. Jackson (1980), 64 Ohio St.2d 107, 112, 18 Ohio Op. 3d 348, 351, 413 N.E.2d 819, 823. Therefore, before a hearing is granted, ‘the petitioner bears the initial burden to submit evidentiary documents containing sufficient operative facts to demonstrate the lack of comрetent counsel and that the defense was prejudiced by counsel‘s ineffectiveness.’ (Emphasis added.) Id. at syllabus.”15
Judgment affirmed.
It is ordered that appellee recover of appellant its costs herein taxed.
The court finds there were reasonable grounds for this appeal.
It is ordered that a special mandate be sent to said court to carry this judgment into execution. The defendant‘s conviction having been affirmed, any bail pending appeal is terminated. Case remanded to the trial court for execution of sentence.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to
PATRICIA ANN BLACKMON, JUDGE
KENNETH A. ROCCO, P. J., and
LARRY A. JONES, J., CONCUR.