Description: Marysville, Ohio criminal defense lawyer represented defendant charged with felony assault and endangering children.


{¶2} Shortly after 8:00 a.m. on the morning of February 13, 2021, the Union County Sheriffs Office received a 911 call reporting gunshots at an apartment complex on Meadows Drive in Marysville. The caller reported that a short, slender Black male dressed in a blue shirt, black pants, and a black hat had fired a gun into one of the apartments. The caller further stated that the man had driven away in a white SUV, but that the white SUV had returned and was parked outside of the apartments.

{¶3} Responding to the 911 call, law enforcement officers located a white SUV that matched the caller's description. The vehicle was occupied by one man, who generally matched the caller's description of the shooter. Law enforcement officers ordered the man to exit the vehicle, and after about 30 seconds, he complied. The man was taken into custody and identified as Nurein.

{¶ 4} Once in custody, Nurein informed the officers that there was a handgun in the center console of the white SUV. The officers entered the vehicle, located a Century Arms 9 mm handgun in the center console as described by Nurein, and

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seized the weapon. The handgun was found unloaded and without a magazine, but an empty magazine was found in the back of the vehicle a short time later. Furthermore, officers collected one live 9 mm round from the driver's-side floorboard and another live 9 mm round from the ground next to the vehicle.

{¶ 5} Nurein was then placed in the backseat of a police cruiser. There, Nurein was told that he would be taken to the police station where his hands would be swabbed to test for the presence of gunshot residue. Toward the end of the officer's explanation, Nurein licked and rubbed his hands together. In spite of Nurein's actions, samples from Nurein's hands were preserved for later testing.

{¶ 6} Meanwhile, law enforcement officers went about establishing which apartment had been the target of the shooting. Eventually, officers located an apartment with three apparent exterior bullet holes. In one place, a bullet appeared to have passed through the soffit and roof. In another, a bullet appeared to have penetrated the exterior wall of a second-story room. Finally, a bullet appeared to have struck the apartment's front door near the deadbolt lock. Officers established contact with the residents of the apartment and learned that the apartment was occupied by Nurein's ex-wife, Zahra, and two of Nurein's children, including his son, K.A. Officers further learned that Zahra and the two children had been inside of the apartment at the time of the shooting and that Zahra was the registered owner of the white SUV in which Nurein was located.

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{¶ 7} Numerous pieces of evidence were collected in and around Zahra's apartment. Outside of the apartment, two to three feet to the right of the front door, officers recovered a spent 9 mm shell casing. In addition, officers extracted an intact bullet from the exterior wall of the second-story room, and Zahra gave officers a bullet fragment she found in the living room immediately behind the front door. The bullet apparently fired through the soffit and roof was not recovered.

{¶ 8} This evidence was subsequently analyzed. The spent shell casing collected from outside of Zahra's apartment was found to have the same markings as the two live 9 mm rounds found in and around the white SUV. Furthermore, ballistics testing established that the handgun taken from the white SUV was the weapon that fired the cartridge found outside of Zahra's apartment as well as the bullet and bullet fragment obtained from within Zahra's apartment. Finally, the sample taken from Nurein's hands tested positive for the presence of gunshot residue.

{¶ 9} On March 9, 2021, the Union County Grand Jury returned an indictment charging Nurein as follows:

• Count One of felonious assault in violation of R.C. 2903.11(A), a second-degree felony, with an accompanying firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145(A) and a forfeiture specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.1417(A);

• Count Two of endangering children in violation of R.C. 2919.22(A), a first-degree misdemeanor;

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• Count Three of endangering children in violation of R.C. 2919.22(A), a first-degree misdemeanor;

• Count Four of improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone in violation of R.C. 2923.161(A)(1), a second-degree felony, with an accompanying firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145(A) and a forfeiture specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.1417(A);

• Count Five of improperly discharging a firearm at or into a habitation or school safety zone in violation of R.C. 2923.161(A)(1), a second-degree felony, with an accompanying firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145(A) and a forfeiture specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.1417(A);

• Count Six of attempted aggravated burglary in violation of R.C. 2923.02 and 2911.11(A)(2), a second-degree felony, with an accompanying firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145(A) and a forfeiture specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.1417(A);

• Count Seven of attempted trespass in a habitation in violation of R.C. 2923.02 and 2911.12(B), a fifth-degree felony, with an accompanying firearm specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.145(A) and a forfeiture specification pursuant to R.C. 2941.1417(A);

• Count Eight of tampering with evidence in violation of R.C. 2921.12(A)(1), a third-degree felony; and

• Count Nine of aggravated menacing in violation of R.C. 2903.21(A), a fifth-degree felony.[1]

On March 12, 2021, Nurein appeared for arraignment and pleaded not guilty to the counts and specifications of the indictment.
State v. Nurein, 2022 Ohio 1711 (Ohio App. 2022)

Outcome: A jury trial commenced on May 10, 2021. On May 11, 2021, the jury found Nurein guilty of all the counts and firearm specifications charged in the superseding indictment. The trial court accepted the jury's verdicts and continued the matter for the preparation of a presentence investigation report.

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