Jury finds Hillsboro man guilty of 2 drug-related offenses

A Hillsboro man was sentenced to two years in prison Monday after a jury seated in Highland County Common Pleas Court found him guilty of two third-degree felony drug charges.

As previously reported, Christopher Burns, 41, was indicted in October 2024 following a Highland County Task Force investigation. He was charged with one count each of aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine and aggravated possession of methamphetamine, jointly with codefendant Joey Fender, 46, also of Hillsboro.

The indictment accused Burns of “knowingly obtaining, possessing or using,” and “knowingly selling or offering to sell,” meth in an amount equal to or exceeding bulk amount but less than five times bulk amount.

Following a brief trial, the jury found Burns guilty of both counts. As Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss said the charges merged for sentencing, Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins asked Coss to sentence Burns on the trafficking charge.

Coss sentenced Burns to 24 months in prison, with six days of jail time credit. Burns was also ordered to pay $120 in restitution to the Task Force, joint and several with Fender.

During her opening arguments, Collins told the jury that Burns “worked with Joey Fender, or was complicit with Joey Fender, in selling methamphetamine to an undercover informant working with the Highland County Task Force.”

According to Collins, a confidential informant, or CI, “set up a deal” on June 29, 2024 “to purchase two eight-balls of methamphetamine for $120 at a residence in Hillsboro.

“Eight-balls is a slang for a weight,” she explained to the jury. “Each eight-ball would be three and a half grams of meth, or an eighth of an ounce.”

Collins continued that the drug deal was both audio and video recorded, with live surveillance by HCTF officers. Footage depicts Burns “gathering” the meth as well as providing scales to assist Fender “so she can weigh the meth, according to the prosecutor.

“He is complicit,” the prosecutor said.

The bags purchased by the CI were later determined to contain 5.9 grams of meth, which is “a little less than the two eight-balls” agreed upon but more than three grams, which is bulk amount.

“After you hear the testimony and review the evidence, I am confident that you will find the defendant guilty of all counts,” Collins said.

Defense attorney Christopher Blosser asked the jury “to weigh the credibility of the witnesses’ testimony, and then when you're able to do that, apply the law.

“We're confident that in doing so, you will find that this case was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and you will make the correct decision during deliberations,” he said.

The testimony at trial included showing part of a video of the drug deal as the state examined their final witness, Detective Brian Butler, an officer working with the Highland County Task Force. Prior to showing the video, Butler explained the process for covert drug operations and working with CIs.

For this particular case, Butler said that the CI told them he could buy drugs from Fender and set up the deal. For the actual controlled buy, officers provided the CI with the money and the recording devices and conducted surveillance. Butler said he was the officer who watched the live feed of the deal.

Collins played that video for the jury, after Butler explained what it depicted.

“You’re going to see [the CI] operating the recorder,” Butler said. “You’re going to see Joey Fender, and you’re going to see Chris Burns, and you’re going to hear [the CI] talk to another female, who was not shown on the video, who was in a car, I believe, out in the parking lot.”

After displaying part of the video and experiencing technical difficulties, Collins asked Butler several questions to further clarify what the video portrayed. They reviewed screenshots Butler had taken from the video of “Joey Fender taking something out of [Burns’] hands.”
        
“[The CI] said he wanted two eight-balls,” Butler said of the footage. “Joey Fender said ‘it’s right there,’ at which point Chris Burns reaches over toward the dresser area. He hands Joey two items. One seemed like it was a little baggie, in his right hand, and the other was like a pouch, a dark-colored pouch, and hands them to Joey.

“[Fender] starts talking about scales. She said ’there they are, right there,’ referring to Chris Burns, and Chris Burns goes over to the dresser area again — under some clothes, I believe — and you can see him with the scales in hand and hands them in Joey’s direction. Later, you see Joey with the same dark-colored pouch, pulling the methamphetamine in and out of it, and from this baggie, she gives part of it to [the CI].”

During cross examination, Blosser asked Butler if he could “say with certainty” that Burns handled the drugs in the video.

“It’s the same consistency in the dark-colored pouch that’s in his left hand that Joey Fender is later pulling the meth out of,” Butler said.     

The state’s first witness was Pamela Farley, who was declared an expert witness. Farley, who said she has been a forensic scientist in the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s drug labs since 2017, explained the process for analyzing drugs submitted for testing to BCI.

Farley verified that she was the one responsible for examining the drugs in this case and that she found the evidence submitted to contain methamphetamine, with the two bags having a combined weight of “5.9 grams +/- 0.05 grams.”  

Under cross examination by Blosser, Farley also confirmed that she was not present at the alleged drug deal and could not “testify as to whether” Burns sold “or even handled” the meth.

The second witness was the CI, who said that he told HCTF officers he could set up a deal with Fender to purchase drugs. The CI identified Burns and said that Burns was present at the home for the deal.

“[Fender] asked someone to get the scales, and then she said something about, I think it was like, ‘could you get my dope,’” the CI said. “[Burns] handed her the dope. He didn’t buy nothing from me. He just gave it to her.”

Next, Fender herself testified and confirmed that she has pleaded guilty in connection with the same indictment and was “given consideration” for her cooperation in Burns’ prosecution. (According to court records, Fender pleaded guilty in December to two third-degree felony charges of aggravated trafficking in methamphetamine. Sentencing is still pending.)

Fender described Burns as a “neighbor and friend” who visited her home “regularly.” On the date of the drug deal, Fender said the meth was on her dresser and that she asked Burns to retrieve it.

“I remember asking him to hand it to me,” she said. “I thought it was the scales he handed me.”

Collins asked if the circumstances of this particular day were “abnormal” or if they “happened commonly” at Fender’s home.

“Regular,” Fender said.

“Including with Mr. Burns handing you the meth or helping you weigh it?” Collins asked.

“Yes,” Fender said.

In response to further questions, Fender answered that she knowingly sold meth to the CI and that Burns “helped.”

The jury then heard from law enforcement officers, beginning with Highland County Task Force investigator Justin Brewer, who drove the CI and helped provide surveillance for the deal in this case. Brewer explained the process for these controlled buys and obtaining the evidence from the CI.

Under cross examination, Brewer agreed that he was not watching the live video feed of the deal as it occurred, as that was done by a different officer.

After the aforementioned testimony by Butler, the state rested, with the initial jury instructions, opening statements and the state’s evidence lasting less than 90 minutes combined. Following the state’s final witness, the jury was dismissed for lunch.

During the lunch break, Blosser made a motion for acquittal under Rule 29, arguing that there is “not enough evidence” to acquit Burns on the charges. Coss denied the motion, saying it was “a question for the jury.”

As the defense did not present any evidence, the jury heard their final two rounds of instructions and closing arguments upon their return from the noon break.

Collins summarized the evidence of the drug deal and Burns’ alleged role in the transaction in her first closing argument.

“There is no question that Joey Fender was selling methamphetamine,” the prosecutor said. “There is no question that Chris Burns assisted her in completing the deal. He was complicit with Joey Fender in trafficking in meth. There’s no question that when he picked up the meth from the dresser, turned and handed it to Joey, he was in possession of that meth. When he then picked up the scales so that she could weigh out the two eight-balls and hand it to [the CI], he was complicit in the trafficking of methamphetamine.

“Christopher Burns is guilty of trafficking and selling methamphetamine.”

Blosser told the jury to “take to heart” the instruction to weigh the credibility of witnesses. He pointed out that “two of those five” witnesses presented by the state — the CI and Fender — “were present” for the actual transaction.

“Both are receiving consideration [for their personal charges] for testifying,” Blosser said. “[Fender] has a vested interest in telling a particular narrative.

“[The CI] received compensation but previously had worked off charges.”

He also argued Fender’s testimony “wasn’t entirely clear at times.”

The only other person present for the transaction — Burns — has “chosen not to testify” and to let “the state prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” Blosser told the jury.

“I’m going to tell you, basically, it’s not that he’s possibly guilty. It’s not that he’s probably guilty. It’s not even likely that he’s guilty. It’s beyond a reasonable doubt,” Blosser said. “If you don’t find all the essential elements — if you don’t put together the bookcase the way the instructions tell you to do it — as distasteful as it may seem to you, if you find that it’s not beyond a reasonable doubt on every one of those elements, you must find Mr. Burns not guilty.”

Collins addressed some of Blosser’s comments in her final argument, pointing out that “we all expect to get paid for work” and that the Task Force’s CI was no different.

“It is true that Joey Fender agreed to cooperate with the Task Force for consideration,” Collins said. “She doesn’t know yet what that consideration’s going to be as part of her sentencing, but again, not uncommon.

“Their recollection of event and what they told you happened perfectly matched what Detective Butler watched as the deal was taking place. He was watching it live, and what [the CI] and Joey both said happened was exactly what he saw happen and exactly what he testified to happening.”

Collins added that the CI and Fender are people that Burns “deals with, and that’s why we used them” in this case.

“Even if you ignored everything [the CI and Fender] said, Detective Butler watched the entire deal,” the prosecutor told the jury. “He heard everything that was said. He watched it and heard it live as it was happening.”

Collins reviewed the testimony presented Monday morning and explained the exhibits admitted that they could review during deliberations, before discussing the elements of the charges.

According to Collins, the witnesses agreed that Burns “handed” the meth to Fender “from the dresser” and that he “brings her the scales” to weigh the meth. There was “no real question” of the date or location of the alleged offense, either, she said.

Regarding whether Burns acted “knowingly,” she told the jury to consider “the events before and after” the deal.

“I want you to keep this in mind. I asked Joey this specifically: ‘Was this an uncommon thing that happened this day, or did the defendant come to your house regularly?’” Collins said. “He’s acting knowingly. This isn’t the only time. He’s not sitting there dumbfounded. He’s actively involved in the deal.”

Collins added that while Fender and the CI “set the deal up, the moment [Fender] said ‘hand me the dope’ or ‘hand that to me’ and [Burns] turns around and grabs it from the dresser and turns and hands it” to Fender, “he is participating, aiding and abetting her, in completing the deal.

To prove possession, Collins said it was “almost too simple.

“Again, the moment that he grabs [the meth] off the dresser and turns and gives it to Joey so that she can complete the deal, what’s he doing?” she said. “He’s obtained it. He’s possessing it. Right then, it’s in his hand.”

Collins also explained to the jury that as outlined in their instructions, a defendant who is complicit in a crime “is regarded guilty as if he or she personally performed every act constituting the offense. This is true even if he or she did not perform every act constituting the offense.” Therefore, “it doesn’t matter” that Fender was the one who organized the deal.

“The fact that [Burns] assisted her in completing the deal, according to the jury instructions, he is guilty of every act as if he performed it himself,” she said.

Collins concluded by pointing out the “overwhelming” evidence against the defendant in finding him guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.

“The facts of the case match from one person to another person to another person of exactly what happened in this case,” she said. “This is not a difficult case.”

After hearing their final instructions, the jury was dismissed to begin deliberations. Approximately 20 minutes later, the jury asked, and was permitted, to watch the video of the deal, although based on an objection from Blosser, they were only allowed to view it up to the point that technical difficulties occurred.

It took approximately another 20 minutes of deliberations before the jury reached their verdicts, which were read by Highland County Clerk of Courts Ike Hodson. The jury found Burns guilty of both charges, with an additional finding that the amount of meth involved was equal to or exceeding bulk amount but less than five times bulk amount on both counts.

Coss said that “given the defendant’s previous history,” he was prepared to proceed with sentencing. Collins asked the judge “to impose a term of incarceration.

“I would note the defendant’s prior criminal history, which includes at least three prior convictions for drug-related offenses, two prior trafficking charges and then a possession charge,” she said.

Blosser pointed out that Burns’ conviction was “not necessarily the worst form of the offense” and “asked the court to take that into consideration.”

Burns also addressed the court prior to sentencing.

“I’d just like to apologize to the court and everyone in here for the time and to apologize for my actions,” he said. “I guess if you find the wrong crowd, you get what’s coming. I can only work forward from here, go from there.”

Coss replied that Burns “seems to be still involved in this business” with drugs and that Fender “has a longtime history as well.

“I don't think it's something where you're not aware of,” Coss said. “My gut tells me, my experience tells me, that you probably had more involvement in this than what we know about from the evidence, simply because of being associated with Ms. Fender and her history and your history.”

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