Gallia County Prosecuting Attorney, Jason D. Holdren, announces that the Ohio Supreme Court recently dismissed the appeal of David S. Hansard as having been improvidently accepted. Chief Justice O’Connor, Justice Kennedy, Justice Fischer, Justice DeWine, Justice Donnelly, and Justice Stewart concurred with the dismissal. Justice Brunner dissented.
Hansard, of Columbus, Ohio, appealed his case to the Ohio Supreme Court after the Fourth District Court of Appeals upheld his conviction from the Gallia County Common Pleas Court.
By way of background, on November 7, 2019, Hansard was convicted of Possession of Cocaine and Trafficking in Cocaine, both felonies of the first degree, following a bench trial before Judge Margaret Evans in the Gallia County Common Pleas Court. Thereafter, Hansard was sentenced to prison for a mandatory minimum term of 10 years and a maximum prison term of 15 years. At the time of his arrest and conviction, Hansard was on post release control as a result of prior prison sentences for drug convictions. Therefore, the State requested, and the Court ordered, that the 928 days remaining under post release control be imposed consecutively (one after the other) to his prison sentence.
“This case started with a traffic stop on U.S. 35 by diligent troopers from the Ohio State Highway Patrol, where Hansard was found to be trafficking large amounts of narcotics through our county,” stated Holdren. “My office successfully prosecuted him for his crimes and obtained convictions in the Gallia County Common Pleas Court. Hansard exercised his rights to appeal in the Fourth District Court of Appeals and ultimately the Ohio Supreme Court, where his convictions were upheld. My office remains committed to holding criminals accountable for their actions, whether that be in the trial court, the Court of Appeals, or the Ohio Supreme Court.”
Prosecuting Attorney Jason Holdren would like to thank Scioto County Prosecuting Attorney Shane A. Tieman and Attorney Steve Taylor, of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association, for filing amicus briefs in support of Gallia County.
