State v. Nievas

Charles D. Abood, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, which found appellant Jose Nievas guilty of one count of trafficking in drugs, one count of permitting drug abuse, and one count of possessing criminal tools. The first two counts contained degree-enhancing specifications as to appellant’s prior conviction of attempted drug trafficking.

Appellant sets forth the following assignments of error:

“I. Jose Nievas was deprived of his constitutional right to a trial by jury, when the trial court tried an essential element of the crime to the bench…