BUCYRUS — Crawford County Prosecutor Matthew Crall announced Tuesday that the Third District Court of Appeals recently upheld three major verdicts rendered by the Crawford County Common Pleas Court.
In three cases the Prosecutor’s Office defended the rulings of Judge Sean Leuthold who conducted all three trials.
“Assistant Prosecutor Dan Stanley handled all three appeals and argued them well,” Crall said. “He has established a high standard of excellence at the appellate level. Few Counties can say they have successfully defended three verdicts of this level and received favorable results all on the same day.”
Jury Trial Verdicts were upheld in the following cases:
State of Ohio vs. Robert Pinyerd
o Appeals Case No. 3-23-20;
o Trial Case Number 22-CR-0066;
o Sentenced to Life without Parole plus three years for gun specification (served consecutively) for Aggravated Murder
o Case investigated by Crestline Police Department and Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI)
State of Ohio vs. Jacqueline Montgomery
o Appeals Case No. 3-23-16;
o Trial Case Number 21-CR-0380
o Sentenced to Fifteen Years to Life for Felony Murder
o Case Investigated by the Crestline Police Department
State of Ohio vs. Juan Rosas
o Appeals Case Bo. 3-23-42
o Trial Case Number 22-CR-0318
o Sentenced to 4-6 years in prison for Burglary (F2)
o Case Investigated by the Bucyrus Police Department
In Pinyerd, the Defendant alleged that his due process rights were violated when the state was permitted to have a witness testify who was discovered one week before trial.
The appellate court found that trial court took sufficient steps to safeguard the Defendant’s right and that the State had acted in good faith in providing information to the Defendant.
The Defendant also contested that the weight of the evidence was insufficient to warrant a conviction. The Appellate Court did not agree with this argument either. The conviction was affirmed.
In J. Montgomery, the Defendant alleged that in the trial involving the murder of Michael Benedict, her rights were violated because she was limited in discussing the amount of prison time received by her co-Defendant, Cameron Davis.
Davis had already pled guilty and then testified against her.
The Court found that the Court did not abuse its discretion in doing so and that there was sufficient evidence to warrant upholding the conviction. The Defendant’s co-Defendant (her husband – Tim Montgomery) conviction was earlier affirmed by the same ThirdDistrict Court of Appeals.
Lastly, in Rosas, the Defendant appealed that he did not receive effective assistance of counsel. His attorney had not filed a motion to suppress related to a photo lineup administration.
Since the Court did not allow testimony regarding that lineup, the Appellate Court did not find any prejudice in not filing the motion in question.
The Defendant also contended that the Court should have granted a mistrial. Since the issue at question was never presented to the jury, the Defendant could not show any prejudice. As a result, his appeal was denied and his conviction was affirmed.
“Justice was served through the investigation, trial and appeal of this trio of cases,” Crall said. “Crawford County is a better place because of this work by law enforcement, the prosecutor’s office, and the Court.”