State v. Spaw

These appeals by the state of Ohio are from judgments rendered by the Court of Common Pleas of Defiance County suppressing evidence seized by police authorities after search of a motor vehicle under the purported authority of search warrants issued out of the trial court.

The vehicle, of which ownership was not claimed by either of the defendants, was, prior to its impoundment and the search and seizure following impoundment, driven by the defendant Lee E. Nolan with the defendant Jerry L. Spaw as a passenger. Neither Nolan nor Spaw claimed ownership of the personal property, consisting of…