By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com

Opening statements got underway for the Kenan Neal trial Tuesday morning.

Neal, 31, has been charged with first-degree felony possession of cocaine, three counts of fifth-degree felony drug possession, and fourth-degree felony receiving stolen property.

Assistant prosecutor Ryan Hoovler argued that evidence would show a search warrant, the result of a home invasion the night before, ended in the confiscation of a large amount of crack cocaine, prescription pills, and a stolen firearm. Hoovler alleged that factors leading up to Neal’s arrest showed that Neal would have been the person to have access to the items seized.

Defense attorney Leon Hewitt, the third attorney to represent Neal since he was arrested, said the prosecution would present “voluminous evidence” but that it would “not mean all of it is true and there is the issue of the burden of proof.”

Hewitt stated Neal would take the stand in his defense and argued his client was a victim of police tactics and abuse.

“This case doesn’t actually start on Nov. 10, 2014,” Hoovler said in his opening statement. Rather events prior to Nov. 10 culminated in the search warrant being issued at 207 N. Henry St. in Crestline.

Crestline police responded to a home invasion at 207 N. Henry St., Neal’s residence, during the overnight hours of Nov. 8 and 9. Neal informed officers that two men entered his home, held him at gunpoint, and demanded drugs and money. He indicated the direction the men fled and officers were able to apprehend Toi Pickens.

Pickens, who has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for his crimes that night, admitted to officers that he and his co-conspirator were asked to steal money and guns. He also told officers that one of the guns in his possession that night was stolen from Neal’s home and there could possibly be additional guns and drugs at the residence.

Neal had been the subject of an ongoing drug investigation by then-Crestline detective Jeremy Moon since 2011. Moon, who is now an officer with the Ontario Police Department, testified Tuesday that information was presented to him concerning the allegations made by Pickens. It was also determined that the gun taken from Neal’s home by Pickens was part of a theft case in Bucyrus. Those facts were enough for Moon to obtain a search warrant for Neal’s home and property.

Moon, assisted by other Crestline patrolmen, executed the search warrant at the Henry Street residence on the evening of Nov. 10. During the search, Moon explained, Neal provided a key ring to a locked closet door in an upstairs bedroom after some reluctance. He admitted he was the only one to retain possession of the key in the household. Inside the closet police found a safe, which was opened using a key on the same key ring. Two money bags containing nearly $10,000 in cash, a title to a vehicle, and a white rock-like substance that was later determined to be 37.75 grams of crack cocaine.

Moon said a Ruger 9mm handgun and numerous prescription bottles containing pills were discovered in a dresser drawer in the room. The pills were later identified by the Mansfield crime lab as 20 tablets of Oxycodone, 1.5 tablets of blue Oxycodone, and one tablet of Methadone. The handgun was linked back to the Bucyrus theft case through its serial number. Police also discovered a TV connected to surveillance cameras aimed at the home’s back door and the alley.

Another large rock of crack cocaine was seized from a closet in the downstairs laundry room along with a razor, plastic baggies, and a digital scale with residue.

Moon said Neal attempted to tell him about drug dealers in Crawford County during the search but he advised Neal that it would be best not to reveal any information until he was taken to the Crestline Police Department. Neal was not charged with anything or Mirandized until he was in the booking room of the police department.

During an hour-long interview, Moon said, Neal voluntarily revealed details on six to eight drug dealers in Crawford County, including a dealer in Galion where he obtained the stolen firearms. He also admitted to Moon that the home invaders came to his home in an attempt to take over portions of his territory.

“He wanted to try to mitigate what they found in his home just an hour before,” Hoovler argued.

Hoovler led Moon in a round of questioning that showed the chain of custody for the evidence taken from the scene and Neal admitting to Moon that the bedroom where some of the drugs were seized was his.

Hewitt questioned Moon on his interactions with Neal prior to the search warrant and asked him why it took so long for the detective to move on Neal if he had been investigating the man for a number of years.

Moon stated that when he put together a search warrant for Neal’s residence a few years before, he was unable to get Crestline Police Chief Joe Butler’s signature on the document at the time. The evidence became stale – it was beyond the 72-hour period where it could be used further, Moon explained – and Neal had moved out of the department’s jurisdiction and into Lexington. Moon used those prior surveillance and complaints, however, in November’s search warrant as additional evidence to the new information obtained.

Judge David Faulkner had already ruled in April that the information given to then-Municipal Court Judge Sean Leuthold by Crestline police in issuing the search warrant was “sufficiently credible” and that Moon acted in good faith. He denied Neal’s motion to suppress evidence.

Hewitt also asked Moon if he made any promises to Neal that night.

“I don’t make promises for anybody. It’s not in my control. No promises, no guarantees,” Moon asserted.

Hoovler, in a redirect, reminded Moon that he had advised Neal that he could see his child before being taken to the police department. Moon said he made that happen but clarified that he never used the word promise nor was a direct promise made to Neal.

The second witness called by prosecution was Crestline Patrolman Scott Eshelman, one of the officers that responded to the home invasion. Eshelman said he had knowledge that Neal was a person of interest in an ongoing drug investigation by a detective in the department and contacted Moon to assist with a search warrant for a stolen gun.

When questioned by Hewitt, Eshelman said he did not make any promises to Neal but did say he would tell the Crawford County Detective Bureau that Neal was cooperative during the interview.

The third and final witness called for the afternoon was Erica Foster, an employee with Marion-Crawford Prevention Programs. She was also working for Crawford County Children Services on a part-time basis at the time she was called to do a mandatory interview with Neal after allegations were made of neglect due to substances found in the home.

Foster conducted a mandatory interview in the county jail with Neal where he admitted that Percocet and cocaine had been in his possession and locked away at his home. Foster said Neal never made a suggestion that cocaine was planted or used by others in the home.

The Neal trial will continue into Wednesday where the defense is expected to call its witnesses, including Neal.