A suppression hearing was held Wednesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court for Lima resident Damoni Brown, charged with improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation.
J Swygart | The Lima News
LIMA — An Aug. 15 trial date has been set for a Lima man charged with shooting into a residence in 2022.
Damoni Brown, 21, of Lima, appeared in Allen County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday for a suppression hearing requested by his attorney. Brown was indicted by an Allen County grand jury in December on a second-degree felony count of improperly discharging a firearm into a habitation.
Defense attorney Zachary Maisch in May filed a motion to suppress statements made by Brown to law enforcement following his arrest. Maisch specifically objected to an interview conducted by Allen County Sheriff’s Office Detective Don Geiger in which Brown refused to give consent to a DNA sample. Brown told the officer he would like to confer with an attorney prior to giving consent.
Geiger, who was called to testify in a suppression hearing Wednesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court, said his interview with Brown continued after the defendant’s request for a lawyer.
Geiger said he understood Brown’s request for an attorney to be unrelated to other questioning.
A copy of the taped interview was taken under advisement by Judge Jeffrey Reed.
During his time on the stand, Geiger gave a brief overview of the state’s case against Brown. The detective said officers were dispatched on Nov. 6, 2022, to a residence on Bristol Avenue in Lima in reference to a large party involving juveniles and adults.
Witnesses told officers that at some point during the party, shots were fired into the residence from a passing vehicle, Geiger said. Using a portion of a surveillance video from the scene officers were able to find the vehicle in question later that night parked outside a residence where Brown was subsequently located.
The detective said a search warrant was obtained and spent shell casings were located inside the vehicle.
