BUCYRUS — A jury of four women, eight men and one female alternate were selected to hear the case of a Bucyrus man in Crawford County Common Pleas Court.
Richard Awbrey, 45, of Bucyrus is facing one count of possession of drugs, a second-degree felony punishable with up to eight years in prison, one count of failure to comply, a third-degree felony punishable with up to 36 months in prison, two counts of possession of drugs, each a fifth-degree felony and each punishable with up to 12 months in prison, one count of drug paraphernalia — a digital scale — a fourth-degree misdemeanor punishable with up to 90 days in jail and one count of possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor punishable with a fine of $150.
Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold explained to the jury that only he could find guilt in the possession of marijuana charge. Jurors would hear evidence of the marijuana but would not render a verdict regarding it.
In opening statements, Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Hoovler told the jury that he would prove Awbrey fled after an attempted traffic stop, abandoning a running car holding drugs including 35 grams of methamphetamines. Hoovler also told the jury he would prove that Awbrey attempted to convince a key witness that he should avoid subpoena to testify in the case.
In his opening statement, defense attorney Thomas Nicholson told the jury that he would prove this was a case of mistaken identity. Nicholson asserted that another man, Robert Bowersock, who is currently serving a prison sentence for possession of drugs, was the driver of the car and guilty of the crimes charged. Nicholson contended that there is no fingerprint or DNA evidence linking his client to the crime. He also noted that the men are of similar build and wear similar clothing.
The first and only witness called on Wednesday was Deputy Tyler Winkelman, of the Crawford County Sheriff’s Department. Winkelman testified that he will have been a deputy for five years in February.
Winkelman testified he was on routine patrol in a marked cruiser on December 27, 2018 in the area of Hopley and Woodbine Avenues in Bucyrus. Winkelman said that the area is a high drug area and is routinely patrolled.
He said he made eye contact with a man sitting in a black Monte Carlo in the Dollar General parking lot at between 8:20-8:30pm. He said the man jumped out of his car and went into the Dollar General store.
Winkelman pulled across the road and watched for Awbrey to exit the store and then followed Awbrey and observed that there was no sticker on his rear license plate. Winkelman said he observed Awbrey not using turn signals and initiated at stop at the corner of Woodlawn and Highland Avenues.
Winkelman testified that Awbrey stopped the vehicle and made his way to the driver’s side of the Monte Carlo, made eye contact with Awbrey and then Awbrey stepped on the gas and drove away.
Winkelman pursued Awbrey as he drove down Kearsley Street and drove onto the sidewalk and then down several alleys. As the officer came up on Awbrey, he fled the running vehicle and escaped on foot.
Winkelman said as soon as he lost visual contact with Awbrey, he returned to the running vehicle. A K-9 officer, Deputy Kerry, assisted Winkelman getting a tow truck and doing an inventory on the vehicle. Winkelman called the Dollar General Store to secure the store security camera footage of Awbrey.
The vehicle inventory included a black sack containing a large amount of drugs on the floorboard of the driver’s side of the car, a large amount of medical-grade marijuana in the trunk, and a digital scale normally used to measure and sell drugs. Also found were plastic Ziplock bag in the car. Winkelman testified that the officers took photos of the car, trunk, drugs, scales, plastic bags and license plates.
Winkelman said that the Monte Carlo was registered to Richard DeJean and that he left messages for DeJean, but no calls were returned before he left duty.
On December 28, Winkelman said that Commander Chad Filliater of the Sheriff’s Department contacted him saying that the owner of the vehicle wanted to talk to him about his car. Winkelman who had just left the gym and was not in uniform asked permission to go to speak to DeJean.
When deputies went to DeJean’s house, he told them he had received a text from Awbrey saying he should report his vehicle stolen. DeJean then agreed to make a controlled call to Awbrey so that investigators could get information on his whereabouts. The call was made by DeJean and recorded on police body cam.
Winkelman testified that during the call Awbrey, admitted to leaving Dollar General and fleeing from police. Awbrey asked DeJean to bring a mattress to the house where he was at located on Warren Street. DeJean agreed to deliver the mattress.
Filliater and Winkelman were at the address in unmarked cars watching the exchange. When DeJean knocked on the door, no one answered but minutes later Robert Bowersock came out of the residence and retrieved the mattress. He told DeJean that Awbrey was in the house on the phone.
Moments later, a red SUV pulled up in front of the house. Awbrey exited the house and got into the SUV. At that time Filliater and Winkelman blocked the SUV. The driver of the SUV attempted to leave and struck the unmarked pickup truck driven by Winkelman. Awbrey was arrested and taken into custody. Deputies seized the cell phone used in the calls and cash from Awbrey.
Winkelman testified that Awbrey was uncooperative during the interview and refused to speak to him.
Hoovler showed the jury the security camera footage from Dollar General and a portion of the attempted interview of Awbrey at the Sheriff’s office. Awbrey denied being the man at Dollar General and said he had been in Upper Sandusky the past two days.
When asked the name of the person he was with in Upper Sandusky, Awbrey would only say it was a friend on 8th Avenue. The jury also viewed a video of a visit between Awbrey and his son that occurred much later after the arrest.
In the video, Awbrey had his son take a picture on his cell phone of a note explaining how DeJean could get out of testifying in the case. He instructed his son to give the note to DeJean’s daughter to convey to her father. Awbrey is heard on the audio saying that evading the subpoena was the least DeJean could do for him.
Hoovler also showed the jury two still photos of Awbrey leaving the Dollar General and the man fleeing the running car. Hoovler then had Winkelman show the jury the clothing that Awbrey wore at Dollar General that matched the clothing in the still of the person fleeing the Monte Carlo.
Winkelman testified that he must have listened to 100 or more calls recorded from jail in which Awbrey referred to clothes, the car and the visits.
On cross-examination, Nicholson asked Winkelman if any other officers could corroborate his story about his decision to watch Awbrey or his reason to initiate the stop. Winkelman admitted there was no other officer on site except him.
Nicholson challenged Winkelman on whether fingerprints or DNA were taken from the scene. The officer testified that it is not standard procedure to do field testing on evidence but that everything is sent to the Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Columbus for testing.
Nicholson inferred that the police work in this case was shoddy and pointed to the fact that, in his report, Winkelman said Awbrey was wearing a green shirt but in court had testified it was a tan shirt. Winkelman said the shirt had both green and tan coloring.
Nicholson asked Winkelman if he knew of Bowersock’s criminal history, the officer said he did not investigate Bowersock’s history. Nicholson pointed out that Bowersock was no in prison for the same type of crime that Awbrey is on trial for.
Nicholson suggested that it was indeed Bowersock in the car. Winkelman testified that he had never taken his eyes off Awbrey from the time he exited Dollar General and that he was the driver and only person visible in the car.
Nicholson explained that DeJean and Awbrey had a long history of association. He further alleged that Bowersock was the actual culprit and the driver that got away from Winkelman.
Nicholson noted that no one tested his client for drugs or alcohol upon arrest. Winkelman said that there was plenty of evidence to tie Awbrey to the crime without fingerprint evidence and that good police work resulted in identifying Awbrey as the man who came out of Dollar General and fled the vehicle.
Day two of testimony is scheduled to begin Thursday at 9 a.m.