Case Title: State v. McKee

Citation: 2001-Ohio-41

Docket Number: 20000523

State: ohio

Court: Ohio Supreme Court

Date: 2001-04-11T00:00:00Z

Document:
[Cite as State v. McKee, 91 Ohio St.3d 292, 2001-Ohio-41.] 
 
 
THE STATE OF OHIO, APPELLANT, v. MCKEE, APPELLEE. 
[Cite as State v. McKee (2001), 91 Ohio St.3d 292.] 
Evidence — Witnesses — Experience and knowledge of a drug user lay witness 
can establish competence to express an opinion on the identity of a 
controlled substance, when. 
(Nos. 00-523 and 00-953 — Submitted December 12, 2000 — Decided April 11, 
2001.) 
APPEAL from and CERTIFIED by the Court of Appeals for Marion County, No. 9-
99-57. 
__________________ 
SYLLABUS OF THE COURT 
The experience and knowledge of a drug user lay witness can establish his or her 
competence to express an opinion on the identity of a controlled substance 
if a foundation for this testimony is first established. 
__________________ 
 
FRANCIS E. SWEENEY, SR., J.  Defendant-appellee, Cassandra N. McKee, 
was indicted on two counts of corrupting another with drugs, in violation of R.C. 
2925.02. At her trial, two girls, Tiffany Friar and Melissa Austin, ages thirteen 
and fourteen at the time of the alleged crime, testified that appellee, the girlfriend 
of Tiffany’s father, shared a marijuana joint with them while they were traveling 
in appellee’s car. 
 
The incident was discovered when Tiffany wrote a note to another friend, 
Stacy Cole, and mentioned that she might obtain marijuana from appellee.  
Stacy’s mother found this note in Stacy’s bookbag and gave it to Tiffany’s 
mother.  Tiffany’s mother contacted the sheriff’s department.  An investigation 
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2 
ensued, and these charges were brought against appellee.  Based upon this 
evidence, the jury convicted appellee as charged. 
 
Upon appeal, the court of appeals reversed appellee’s convictions, finding 
no evidence that the substance involved was marijuana after excluding the girls’ 
testimony identifying it.  However, finding its judgment in conflict with that of 
the Fifth District Court of Appeals in State v. Coffey (Oct. 16, 1995), Delaware 
App. No. 94CAA11036, unreported, 1995 WL 770788 (where the court upheld 
the use of lay testimony to prove that a substance furnished to minors was 
marijuana), the appellate court entered an order certifying a conflict.  The cause is 
now before this court upon our determination that a conflict exists (case No. 00-
953) and pursuant to the allowance of a discretionary appeal (case No. 00-523). 
 
The appellate court certified the following issue for our review and 
resolution:  “Is there insufficient evidence as a matter of law to convict a 
defendant for corrupting another with drugs in violation of R.C. 2925.02, when 
the alleged drug in question is marihuana, and at trial there is no expert witness or 
laboratory analysis presented to identify the substance alleged to be marihuana, 
and the only identification of the substance is the testimony of the juveniles who 
allegedly smoked the substance?”  While we affirm the court of appeals’ decision 
reversing appellee’s convictions, we do not believe the issue as framed is 
dispositive of the case.  Because we believe that lay opinion testimony, if properly 
qualified, may be sufficient to sustain a conviction, we necessarily answer the 
certified question in the negative. 
 
Appellee was convicted of two counts of corrupting another with drugs in 
violation of R.C. 2925.02(A)(4)(a), which provides, “No person shall knowingly 
* * * [f]urnish or administer a controlled substance to a juvenile who is at least 
two years the offender’s junior, when the offender knows the age of the juvenile 
or is reckless in that regard.”  Of these elements, the only one in dispute is that the 
substance in issue was marijuana, a controlled substance according to R.C. 
January Term, 2001 
3 
3719.41 Schedule I, (C)(17).  The state offered the testimony of the girls to prove 
this element of the offense. 
 
Appellant, the state of Ohio, initially contends that this issue was not 
preserved for appeal because the defense failed to object to the girls’ testimony at 
trial or to raise the issue before the court of appeals.  Errors that arise during a 
trial that are not brought to the attention of the court are ordinarily waived and 
may not be raised on appeal unless there is plain error, i.e., but for the error, the 
outcome of the trial clearly would have been otherwise.  Crim.R. 52(B); State v. 
Johnson (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 95, 111, 723 N.E.2d 1054, 1069.  We find this 
case appropriate for a plain-error review.  Because there was no additional 
evidence concerning the identification of the substance, the result of the trial 
would have been different if the girls’ testimony had been excluded. 
 
Having determined that the issue is properly before us pursuant to the 
plain-error rule, we must decide whether a person can be convicted for corrupting 
another with drugs, in violation of R.C. 2925.02, based on identification of the 
controlled substance solely by the person to whom the substance was given. 
 
The state argues that under either Evid.R. 701 or Evid.R. 702, the girls’ 
testimony was properly admitted.  Appellee, however, maintains that according to 
State v. Maupin (1975), 42 Ohio St.2d 473, 71 O.O.2d 485, 330 N.E.2d 708, Ohio 
law requires either laboratory analysis or other expert testimony to prove the 
identity of the drug.  Since the record does not establish that the girls were more 
than novice users, they could not be considered experts.  Thus, in the absence of 
laboratory testing or expert testimony, appellee argues, the state failed to prove its 
case. 
 
Maupin does not fully answer the issue here. In Maupin, the court was 
asked to decide whether scientific analysis is required for the identification of the 
substance.  In concluding that it is not, the court first determined that a drug may 
be identified by circumstantial evidence.  Id., 42 Ohio St.2d at 479, 71 O.O.2d at 
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488-489, 330 N.E.2d at 713.  Yet the court recognized that the identity of a 
controlled substance is beyond the common experience and knowledge of juries.  
Id.  At the time Maupin was decided, the Rules of Evidence, which govern lay 
and expert testimony, had yet to be adopted.  Therefore, the court followed the 
established common law and held that expert testimony in some form is required. 
In this regard, the court considered cases where experienced police officers or 
drug addicts had been found to be experts  and cases where casual drug use was 
found insufficient for qualification.  Based upon these cases, the court concluded 
that the police officer’s testimony in question was properly admitted as expert 
testimony.  Id. 
 
However, since the adoption of the Rules of Evidence, both on the state 
and federal levels,1 many courts have used an Evid.R. 701 analysis and have 
allowed lay witnesses to testify about the identity of a drug.  For example, in 
United States v. Westbrook (C.A.8, 1990), 896 F.2d 330, the court permitted lay 
testimony from two witnesses who used the substance at issue and had extensive 
experience with that type of drug.  See, also, United States v. Osgood (C.A.5, 
1986), 794 F.2d 1087, 1095 (prior use); United States v. Harrell (C.A.11, 1984), 
737 F.2d 971, 978 (prior use).  See, also, State v. Watson (1989), 231 Neb. 507, 
                                                          
 
1.  Ohio Evid.R. 701 parallels Fed.R.Evid. 701 before its recent December 2000 amendment.  
Fed.R.Evid. 701 was amended to “eliminate the risk that the reliability requirements set forth in 
Rule 702 will be evaded through the simple expedient of proffering an expert in lay witness 
clothing.”  Note of the Judicial Conference Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure, 
reprinted in 192 F.R.D. 402, 416.  The amendment provides:  “If the witness is not testifying as an 
expert, the witness’ testimony in the form of opinions or inferences is limited to those opinions or 
inferences which are (a) rationally based on the perception of the witness, (b) helpful to a clear 
understanding of the witness’ testimony or the determination of a fact in issue, and (c) not based 
on scientific, technical, or other specialized knowledge within the scope of Rule 702.”  The 
italicized portion of the rule is new.  The amendment now serves to channel testimony that is 
actually expert testimony to Fed.R.Evid. 702 and ensures that a party will not evade disclosure of 
expert witnesses by simply calling an expert witness in the guise of a layperson.  Committee Note, 
supra, 192 F.R.D. at 416.  However, the amendment is not intended to affect either the 
prototypical types of evidence contemplated by Fed.R.Evid. 701 or, more important, the cases that 
have permitted lay witnesses to testify that a particular substance appeared to be a narcotic.  
Committee Note, supra, 192 F.R.D. at 417. 
January Term, 2001 
5 
514, 437 N.W.2d 142, 146 (lay witness’s identification of drugs is common); 
Swain v. State (Okla.Crim.App.1991), 805 P.2d 684, 685-686 (lay testimony 
sufficient to identify marijuana).  Courts have considered familiarity with effects 
of a drug coupled with similar effects from the substance at issue.  See, e.g., State 
v. Chatman (La.App.1992), 599 So.2d 335, 347; People v. Garcia (1985), 166 
Cal.App.3d 1056, 1066, 212 Cal.Rptr. 822, 827.  Finally, see State v. Haller 
(1987), 178 W.Va. 642, 645, 363 S.E.2d 719, 722 (recognizing that many federal 
courts have held that drug abusers or addicts may possess sufficient qualifications 
to identify narcotics).  All these cases, however, recognize the importance of a 
foundation of sufficient familiarity with the substance to support the opinion.  To 
understand why a foundation is necessary before this testimony is admitted, it is 
important to consider the language of Evid.R. 701 and its jurisprudence. 
 
Evid.R. 701 provides: 
 
“If the witness is not testifying as an expert, his testimony in the form of 
opinions or inferences is limited to those opinions or inferences which are (1) 
rationally based on the perception of the witness and (2) helpful to a clear 
understanding of his testimony or the determination of a fact in issue.” 
 
At common law, lay witnesses were required to testify to facts rather than 
opinions. However, the practical possibility of distinguishing between fact and 
opinion proved to be elusive, if not impossible to draw, and led to extensive 
litigation and pervasive criticism by commentators.  Blanchard & Chin, 
Identifying the Enemy in the War on Drugs:  A Critique of the Developing Rule 
Permitting Visual Identification of Indescript White Powder in Narcotics 
Prosecutions (1998), 47 Am.U.L.Rev. 557, 575; Asplundh Mfg. Div. of Asplundh 
Tree Expert Co. v. Benton Harbor Eng. (C.A.3, 1995), 57 F.3d 1190, 1195. 
Consequently, former Fed.Evid.R. 701, upon which Ohio Evid.R. 701 is based, 
was adopted, and it “obviated the common law requirement for rigid 
compartmentalization of lay witness testimony into fact or opinion.”  47 
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Am.U.L.Rev. at 575.  Although at first Evid.R. 701 contemplated testimony about 
such ordinary things as the color, speed, type of vehicle, identity of a person, a 
person’s health, age, or appearance, or even testimony regarding a person’s sanity 
or intoxication under controlled situations, Weissenberger, Ohio Evidence 2001 
Courtroom Manual (2000), 275, as case law developed, the rule was interpreted to 
allow for “ ‘ “shorthand renditions” of a total situation, or [for] statements of 
collective facts.’ ”  Asplundh Mfg., 57 F.3d at 1196, quoting 1 McCormick, 
Evidence (4 Ed.1992) 44, fn. 16.  Although the line between fact and opinion 
began to blur, all these situations met the core requirements—that the opinion is 
rationally based upon personal knowledge and is helpful to the trier of fact.  Id. at 
1198.  Moving further from this core of “shorthand statements,” courts began to 
permit witnesses with firsthand knowledge to offer lay opinion testimony “where 
they have a reasonable basis – grounded either in experience or specialized 
knowledge – for arriving at the opinion expressed.”  Id. at 1198.  Before this type 
of opinion testimony has been allowed, however, the trial court has made an 
initial determination that the witness possessed sufficient experience or 
specialized knowledge, thus satisfying the rule’s requirements that the opinion be 
both “helpful to a clear understanding * * * of a fact in issue” and “rationally 
based” upon the witness’s perception.  Id. 
 
It is consistent with this emerging view of Evid.R. 701 that courts have 
permitted lay witnesses to express their opinions in areas in which it would 
ordinarily be expected that an expert must be qualified under Evid.R. 702. The 
situation presented in this case fits into this classification.  Although these cases 
are of a technical nature in that they allow lay opinion testimony on a subject 
outside the realm of common knowledge, they still fall within the ambit of the 
rule’s requirement that a lay witness’s opinion be rationally based on firsthand 
observations and helpful in determining a fact in issue.  These cases are not based 
January Term, 2001 
7 
on specialized knowledge within the scope of Evid.R. 702,2 but rather are based 
upon a layperson’s personal knowledge and experience. 
 
We follow this line of cases and hold that the experience and knowledge 
of a drug user lay witness can establish his or her competence to express an 
opinion on the identity of a controlled substance if a foundation for this testimony 
is first established. This meets the requirements of Evid.R. 701.  It is testimony 
rationally based on a person’s perceptions and helpful to a clear understanding of 
a fact in issue. 
 
Applying our holding to the facts of this case, we find that the evidence 
was insufficient to show that the girls were qualified to testify as lay witnesses.  
Their testimony was sketchy and conclusory.  Melissa testified that she “assumed 
it was” marijuana without explaining in detail how she arrived at this conclusion.  
There was no evidence as to how many prior experiences the girls had had with 
the drug.  While the girls testified that the marijuana was in a “joint” form, neither 
                                                          
 
2.  Evid.R. 702 provides: 
 
“A witness may testify as an expert if all of the following apply: 
 
“(A) The witness’ testimony either relates to matters beyond the knowledge or experience 
possessed by lay persons or dispels a misconception common among lay persons; 
 
“(B) The witness is qualified as an expert by specialized knowledge, skill, experience, 
training, or education regarding the subject matter of the testimony; 
 
“(C) The witness’ testimony is based on reliable scientific, technical, or other specialized 
information.  To the extent that the testimony reports the result of a procedure, test, or experiment, 
the testimony is reliable only if all of the following apply: 
 
“(1) The theory upon which the procedure, test, or experiment is based is objectively 
verifiable or is validly derived from widely accepted knowledge, facts, or principles; 
 
“(2) The design of the procedure, test, or experiment reliably implements the theory; 
 
“(3) The particular procedure, test, or experiment was conducted in a way that will yield 
an accurate result.” 
 
In contrast to Evid.R. 701, Evid.R. 702 authorizes expert testimony.  Weissenberger, 
Ohio Evidence 2001 Courtroom Manual (2000) 281.  It establishes standards to be applied in 
determining whether expert testimony should be admitted, and it provides criteria for determining 
whether a witness should be accorded expert status by the trial court.  Id.  “[T]he Rule also sets 
forth the general standard that expert testimony must be reliable, and then narrows this broad 
standard by applying specific criteria to be used in ascertaining the reliability of expert testimony 
concerning the results of tests, studies and scientific procedures.”  Id. The distinction between lay 
and expert witness opinion testimony is that lay testimony “results from a process of reasoning 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
8 
girl testified as to the actual appearance of the drug itself.  Moreover, while 
Melissa testified in general terms as to the effects of marijuana, she did not 
explicitly say whether she experienced those effects this time.  We conclude that 
there was an insufficient foundation of experience or knowledge to support their 
opinions.  Without a proper foundation, this evidence should have been excluded.  
The trial court abused its discretion in permitting this lay opinion testimony.  
Once the evidence is excluded, there is no remaining evidence of this element of 
the crime.  When evidence of an element of the crime is deemed insufficient on 
appeal, the conviction must be reversed.  Plain error requires us to affirm the court 
of appeals’ judgment reversing appellant’s convictions. 
Judgment affirmed. 
 
MOYER, C.J., DOUGLAS, RESNICK, PFEIFER and LUNDBERG STRATTON, JJ., 
concur. 
 
COOK, J., dissents. 
__________________ 
 
COOK, J., dissenting.  I am in substantial agreement with the rule that the 
majority announces today.  Under Evid.R. 701, a properly qualified lay witness 
may render an opinion on the identity of a controlled substance.  And properly 
admitted lay opinion testimony may provide sufficient evidence of a substance’s 
identity to support a conviction for corrupting another with drugs.  Despite my 
agreement with these principles, however, I am unable to concur in the ultimate 
decision to reverse McKee’s conviction on the ground that the trial court 
committed plain error in allowing lay opinion testimony lacking the requisite 
foundation.  I would find no plain error in this case and take this opportunity to 
clarify the contours of the plain-error doctrine. 
                                                                                                                                                              
 
familiar in everyday life,” while expert testimony “results from a process of reasoning which can 
be mastered only by specialists in the field.” State v. Brown (Tenn.1992), 836 S.W.2d 530, 549. 
January Term, 2001 
9 
 
Ordinarily, the failure to lodge a timely objection to the admission of 
testimony results in the forfeiture of any claimed error.  See, e.g., State v. Allen 
(1995), 73 Ohio St.3d 626, 633, 653 N.E.2d 675, 684.3  Crim.R. 52(B) tempers 
the harsh consequences of failing to object by stating, “Plain errors or defects 
affecting substantial rights may be noticed although they were not brought to the 
attention of the court.”  The rule is identical to Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b), which the 
United States Supreme Court has described as a “ ‘careful balancing of our need 
to encourage all trial participants to seek a fair and accurate trial the first time 
around against our insistence that obvious injustice be promptly redressed.’ ”  
United States v. Young (1985), 470 U.S. 1, 15, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 1046, 84 L.Ed.2d 
1, 12-13, quoting United States v. Frady (1982), 456 U.S. 152, 163, 102 S.Ct. 
1584, 1592, 71 L.Ed.2d 816, 827.  This court has repeatedly stated that plain error 
under Crim.R. 52(B) will not exist unless we can conclude that but for the error, 
the outcome of the trial would clearly have been otherwise.  See, e.g., State v. 
Lindsey (2000), 87 Ohio St.3d 479, 482, 721 N.E.2d 995, 1001; State v. Moreland 
(1990), 50 Ohio St.3d 58, 62, 552 N.E.2d 894, 899; State v. Long (1978), 53 Ohio 
St.2d 91, 7 O.O.3d 178, 372 N.E.2d 804, paragraph two of the syllabus.  
Accordingly, appellate courts should not take notice of an error, no matter how 
clear, if the error had no bearing on the outcome of the trial. 
                                                          
 
3.  We have often referred to the failure to object as a waiver of any error.  A failure to object, 
however, is more accurately characterized as a forfeiture.  See United States v. Olano (1993), 507 
U.S. 725, 733, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d 508, 519.  “Whereas forfeiture is the failure to 
make the timely assertion of a right, waiver is the ‘intentional relinquishment or abandonment of a 
known right.’ ”  Id., quoting Johnson v. Zerbst (1938), 304 U.S. 458, 464, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 1023, 82 
L.Ed. 1461, 1466.  While waiver and forfeiture are not the same, courts “have so often used them 
interchangeably that it may be too late to introduce precision.”  Freytag v. Commr. of Internal 
Revenue (1991), 501 U.S. 868, 894, 111 S.Ct. 2631, 2647, 115 L.Ed.2d 764, 790, fn. 2 (Scalia, J., 
concurring).  Nevertheless, the distinction retains some significance in the context of Crim.R. 
52(B).  A right that is waived in the true sense of that term cannot form the basis of any claimed 
error under Crim.R. 52(B).  Olano, 507 U.S. at 733, 113 S.Ct. at 1777, 123 L.Ed.2d at 519.  On 
the other hand, mere forfeiture does not extinguish a claim of plain error under Crim.R. 52(B).  Id. 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
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Today, the majority finds an outcome-determinative error in the admission 
of lay opinion testimony and decides that the plain-error doctrine “requires us to” 
uphold the court of appeals’ reversal of McKee’s conviction.  But the outcome-
determinative nature of an error is not the only factor to consider in deciding 
whether to notice the error under Crim.R. 52(B).  To the contrary, the prejudicial 
nature of the forfeited error is only one element to be satisfied before the appellate 
court may correct the error. 
 
In United States v. Olano (1993), 507 U.S. 725, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 
L.Ed.2d 508, the United States Supreme Court clarified the standard for plain-
error review under Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b).  The court explained that three 
limitations circumscribe an appellate court’s decision whether to correct an error 
absent a timely objection by the defendant at trial.  First and most fundamentally, 
there must be error, i.e., a deviation from a legal rule.  Id. at 732-733, 113 S.Ct. at 
1777, 123 L.Ed.2d at 518.  Second, the error must be plain.  To be plain, the error 
must be “ ‘clear’ or, equivalently, ‘obvious.’ ”  Id. at 734, 113 S.Ct. at 1777, 123 
L.Ed.2d at 519, citing Young, 470 U.S. at 17, 105 S.Ct. at 1047, 84 L.Ed.2d at 13, 
fn. 14.  Third, the error must affect substantial rights.  In most cases, this means 
that the error must have affected the outcome of the trial.  Olano, 507 U.S. at 734, 
113 S.Ct. at 1777-1778, 123 L.Ed.2d at 519-520. 
 
Even if a forfeited error satisfies these three prongs, however, an appellate 
court need not correct it.  By its very terms, Crim.R. 52(B) is discretionary; a 
reviewing court “may” notice plain errors but is not obliged to do so.  Id. at 735, 
113 S.Ct. at 1778, 123 L.Ed.2d at 520.  We have recognized this discretionary 
aspect of the rule by instructing courts to take notice of plain error “with the 
utmost caution, under exceptional circumstances and only to prevent a manifest 
miscarriage of justice.”  Long at paragraph three of the syllabus; see, also, Young, 
470 U.S. at 15, 105 S.Ct. at 1046, 84 L.Ed.2d at 12.  Olano further explained that 
an appellate court should exercise its discretion to correct plain errors affecting 
January Term, 2001 
11 
substantial rights “if the error ‘seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity or public 
reputation of judicial proceedings.’ ”  Olano, 507 U.S. at 736, 113 S.Ct. at 1779, 
123 L.Ed.2d at 521, quoting United States v. Atkinson (1936), 297 U.S. 157, 160, 
56 S.Ct. 391, 392, 80 L.Ed. 555, 557.  At a minimum, appellate courts “should no 
doubt correct a plain forfeited error that causes the conviction or sentencing of an 
actually innocent defendant.”  Id.  But plain-error correction under Crim.R. 52(B) 
is not limited to cases of actual innocence.  Id. 
 
I would adopt the Olano method of analyzing when to correct plain error 
under Crim.R. 52(B).  Olano’s framework is true to the text of the rule, which by 
its very terms circumscribes the authority of an appellate court to correct plain 
error.  Olano, 507 U.S. at 732, 113 S.Ct. at 1776, 123 L.Ed.2d at 518.  In contrast, 
an analytic framework requiring reviewing courts to correct an outcome-
determinative forfeited error ignores two vital limitations embodied in Crim.R. 
52(B)’s text: the type of error (“plain”) that can be corrected and the court’s 
discretion (plain errors “may be noticed”) in deciding whether to correct it. 
 
Utilizing the Olano framework, I would conclude that reversal is not 
warranted in this case.  Under the rule announced by the majority today, the 
admission of lay opinion testimony concerning the identity of a controlled 
substance is erroneous unless the proponent of the testimony establishes a proper 
foundation for it.  This rule arguably establishes the first prong of the Olano 
plain-error analysis, i.e., an error having been committed.  This case fails to 
satisfy Olano’s second prong, however, because the error recognized by the 
majority is not plain.  To be plain, an error must be obvious in light of the law at 
the time of appeal.  See Johnson v. United States (1997), 520 U.S. 461, 467-468, 
117 S.Ct. 1544, 1549, 137 L.Ed.2d 718, 727-728; accord State v. Marple (1996), 
197 W.Va. 47, 53, 475 S.E.2d 47, 53 (applying Olano).  But the rule announced 
today was not clear at the time of appeal; to the contrary, there was a conflict in 
the districts (concerning the admissibility of lay opinion testimony identifying a 
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO 
12 
controlled substance) that was unresolved until this court’s decision today.  And 
the court of appeals cited no controlling decision from its own district establishing 
that the admission of the girls’ testimony was error.  Several federal appellate 
courts applying the Olano analysis have held that an error cannot be deemed plain 
if there is no controlling case law on point and the authority in other circuits is 
split.  See, e.g., United States v. Aguillard (C.A.11, 2000), 217 F.3d 1319, 1321; 
United States v. Thompson (C.A.9, 1996), 82 F.3d 849, 855; United States v. Alli-
Balogun (C.A.2, 1995), 72 F.3d 9, 12; United States v. Williams (C.A.6, 1995), 53 
F.3d 769, 772.  Simply put, if the law is unclear on a particular issue at the time of 
trial and remains that way at the time of appeal, the error cannot be plain and 
should not be noticed under Crim.R. 52(B).  See United States v. David (C.A.4, 
1996), 83 F.3d 638, 642-643.  As the David court explained: 
 
“If the contemporaneous objection requirement is to have any real force, 
presumably an objection would be required * * * in the circumstance where the 
law at the time of trial is unclear as to whether the [trial] court’s proposed course 
would constitute error.  A timely objection in such a circumstance would provide 
the court an opportunity to consider the question, possibly avoid the commission 
of an error, and thereby prevent the need for retrial upon appellate reversal—the 
very purposes of the contemporaneous objection rule.”  (Footnote omitted.)  Id. at 
643. 
 
In this case, it was not clear either at the time of trial or by the time of the 
direct appeal that the girls’ testimony identifying marijuana was inadmissible.4  I 
                                                          
 
4.  The David court distinguished the situation where the law was clear at the time of trial (and 
contrary to the defendant’s position on appeal), but changed by the time of appeal by a 
supervening decision.  In that instance, the David court held that an error would be deemed plain 
“where an objection at trial would have been indefensible because of existing law, but a 
supervening decision prior to appeal reverses that well-settled law, rendering the defendant’s 
claim clearly meritorious.”  83 F.3d at 645.  The United States Supreme Court adopted this view 
in Johnson, holding that “in a case * * * where the law at the time of trial was settled and clearly 
contrary to the law at the time of appeal[,] it is enough that an error be ‘plain’ at the time of 
January Term, 2001 
13 
therefore cannot join in the majority’s determination that the trial court committed 
plain error by failing to follow a rule that was not definitively announced until 
today. 
 
I would adopt the Olano framework for analyzing plain error under 
Crim.R. 52(B) and find that any error committed by the trial court in this case was 
not plain. 
__________________ 
 
Jim Slagle, Marion County Prosecuting Attorney, for appellant. 
 
Daniel E. Shifflet & Co., L.P.A., and Kevin P. Collins, for appellee. 
__________________ 
                                                                                                                                                              
 
appellate consideration.”  Johnson v. United States, 520 U.S. at 468, 117 S.Ct. at 1549, 137 
L.Ed.2d at 727-728.  This case presents no such situation.