Appeals court sides with prosecutors in 2020 Lorain drug case

An appeals court has sided with the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office in the case of a convicted drug trafficker who argued he wasn't brought to trial quickly enough after Lorain police found drugs in his residence two years ago. Prosecutors successfully appealed to the 9th District Court of Appeals in the case of 35-year-old Luis Otero of Lorain. The appeals court ruling was 3-0, with Judge Lynne Callahan writing the decision, joined by judges Donna Carr and Betty Sutton. That panel overruled Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Rothgery's ruling in the case, handed down earlier this year. Otero was charged with drug trafficking and drug possession after the Lorain Police Department served a search warrant on his residence on Aug. 18, 2020. Officers found crack cocaine hidden in Otero's underwear, according to the appeals court. More than 120 grams of cocaine, more than $7,800 in cash, ammunition and "multiple items indicative of drug trafficking" also were inside, Lorain police said at the time. A hydraulic press and white grocery bag with more than 25 grams of cocaine and 18 grams of fentanyl inside were found in a neighboring lot, the appeals court wrote, and Otero's DNA was on the bag. A grand jury charged him with trafficking in cocaine, possession of cocaine, trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound, possession of a fentanyl-related compound, and possessing criminal tools, all felonies, and a misdemeanor endangering children charge in October 2020. Those charges were specific to the evidence seized from his house in the August 2020 raid, and not to the drugs found in the neighboring lot. Otero pleaded not guilty and was released on bond. Otero pleaded guilty to all of those charges in May 2021 and was sentenced to 3 to 5 1/2 years in prison by Rothgery in July 2021. Otero also was ordered to forfeit $945 in illegal drug proceeds to the prosecutor's office and the Lorain Police Department. Otero's earliest release date is in July 2024, according to the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. Prior to sentencing, Otero was charged with further felonies: Trafficking in a fentanyl-related compound and possession of a fentanyl-related compound, both filed by a grand jury in June 2021, for the drugs found in the neighboring lot. He again pleaded not guilty and the case was again assigned to Rothgery's court. In September 2021, Otero's defense filed a motion to dismiss the more-recent charges, arguing they were linked to the first case. For that reason, they were a violation of the right to a speedy trial. Rothgery agreed and dismissed the newer charges in February. Prosecutors appealed and won the appeal in a decision handed down Monday. Prosecutors argued that Rothgery failed to state, on the record, findings of fact and reasons for the dismissal as required by law. Also, any instances where the passage of time counting toward Otero's speedy trial considerations were halted or "tolled," the prosecutor's office later argued, "applied equally to both cases." Otero had argued that both cases "arose from the same facts and circumstances," but prosecutors filed the second case under a different case number — not as a supplement to the first case, the appeals court wrote. Otero also had been sentenced in the first case by the time he was charged in the second case, the appeals court wrote. He previously pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and drug possession charges in 2015, according to court records. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him on Twitter @DaveOBrienCT.