At issue was whether Beller had cause to pull over the driver, information missing or misstated in his report about the incident and a camera he said he lost that contained photos from the stop. Those questions led O’Neill to dismiss the case against the driver Beller pulled over.
“The court finds a significant lack of credibility regarding the testimony for the sole witness for the state,” O’Neill wrote.
Beller told the Springfield News-Sun that he believes he did nothing wrong and said his resignation has nothing to do with the internal investigation. He stepped away because of the tragedy consistently witnessed by law enforcement officers, he said.
"I worked my (butt) off for the community and I took my job seriously and was as professional as I can be," Beller said.
Beller, who’s worked for the sheriff’s office since 2006, submitted his resignation notice to Clark County Sheriff Deborah Burchett on June 6. That came after he was removed from road patrol and assigned to the jail for 120 days following the internal investigation.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the people of Clark County by your side,” his resignation letter says. “Thank you for all you have done.”
The Springfield News-Sun obtained his resignation letter and internal investigation documents via a public records request. The documents show the sheriff’s office opened its inquiry into how Beller handled the case after O’Neill filed the entry.
The sheriff’s office investigation didn’t find that Beller was being untruthful during his testimony, the documents show, but that he did violate three office policies and didn’t properly prepare to testify in the case.
Beller told the Springfield News-Sun that he didn’t know he was going to testify until about three hours before he was due on the stand, which led to his lack of preparation.
Burchett said Beller left on good terms with the office but otherwise declined to comment.
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Traffic stop
Beller was patrolling on April 11, 2017 when he pulled over a car on Lower Valley Pike near the Montgomery County line, according to an incident report.
In the report, Beller wrote that he pulled the car over because of three violations: unsafe motor vehicle, window tint and speed.
“When I made a driver side approach could smell an odor of marijuana coming from the vehicle,” Beller wrote in an incident report. “I also observed an opened bottle of liquor on the front seat.”
Beller had the driver, Javian Harris, 28, of Medway, exit the vehicle and searched him with a pat down, he wrote in the report.
“I then had him sit in my cruiser while I checked his car,” the report said. “I found a scale with white powder that appeared to be heroin. I found a capsule with white powder under the driver seat. He was found to have $1,144 on his persons and he had two cell phones.”
Harris was arrested and taken to the Clark County Jail, where more drugs were found on him, the report said.
“I observed two bags of white powder tied to his shorts,” the report said.
Beller said that when he returned to his cruiser, he found more drugs.
“It appeared that Javian had ripped one of the bags he had tied to his shorts and then tried to get rid of it by shoving it into the back of my cruiser,” the report said.
Harris was indicted in Clark County Common Pleas Court on two counts of trafficking, two counts of possession of drugs and illegal conveyance of drugs of abuse.
Suppression hearing
Court records show Beller testified in the case during a suppression hearing on Jan. 22, 2018, during which Clark County Public Defender Shawn Thomas accused him of being untruthful and destroying evidence.
According to a transcript of the hearing obtained by the Springfield News-Sun, Thomas asked Beller about the reasons he pulled Harris over and how he collected evidence. A video of the traffic stop played during the hearing.
Beller said Harris’ car had a smashed windshield, which prompted a line of questioning focused on whether Beller took photos at the scene.
“What did you do to document this smashed windshield?” Thomas asked Beller.
“I put it in my report right here, unsafe motor vehicle, window tint,” Beller said.
“It doesn’t say smashed, does it?” Thomas asked. “How did you document it? Did you take pictures?”
“No,” Beller said. “I don’t have a camera at that time.”
“You don’t have a camera at that time?” Thomas said. “That sure looks like somebody is taking pictures.”
“That must be before I lost my camera,” Beller said. “It’s been some time ago.”
“So you did, in fact, take pictures?” Thomas asked.
“Apparently so,” Beller said.
Thomas noted that on the incident report Beller wrote that he didn’t take photos and accused Beller of destroying evidence, according to the court transcript.
Thomas also asked Beller why, if Harris was speeding, was he able to catch up to him quickly by driving about 20 miles per hour faster than the speed limit, why he didn’t charge him with tinted windows despite it being a reason for the traffic stop and why he was charged with open container without collecting the alcohol for evidence.
Beller said Harris was driving about 65 to 70 mph in a 45-mph zone when he was stopped, but Thomas said that the deputy was traveling that fast and Harris was driving the speed limit.
“But your speed was advancing on him so he couldn’t have been going faster than you, right?” Thomas asks. “Matter of fact, you were advancing so he would have be going slower than you.”
As for the alcohol, Beller said that it was policy to not collect alcohol.
“We’re not allowed to collect alcohol,” Beller said. “It smelled like alcohol, it was in a tequila bottle and the seal was broken.”
O’Neill says after the testimony that there was little to no evidence to justify the stop.
“The reason for the stop was given as window tint violation, windshield smashed and speed,” O’Neill said. “The only evidence I have in this documentation is the speed that the officer was traveling, and it’s 65 miles an hour so I think he was catching up on the car very quickly. He testified that the speed limit was 40 miles an hour in that area so it would not appear that the defendant was going excessively fast.
“As to the window tint and the smashed window, I am greatly concerned about the fact that there was testimony that no pictures were taken, there’s a report that says no picture was taken and then when confronted with the video showing he was taking pictures, ‘I made a mistake on filling out the report and the camera is lost so I never informed the prosecutor that there were pictures taken and that they were lost.’
“Just said no pictures on the report, which raises an issue, a significant issue with this court for credibility as to the reason for the stop,” O’Neill said.
O’Neill found there was insufficient evidence for the stop and the motion to suppress the evidence — including all of the drugs — was granted. The case was dismissed shortly after the hearing with prejudice.
O’Neill could not be reached for comment for this article. Thomas declined to comment.
Internal investigation
Burchett and then-Clark County Chief Deputy Travis Russell requested the office investigate the stop and whether any misconduct occurred, according to an internal investigation finding report obtained by the Springfield News-Sun via a public records request.
“I asked (Beller) if he had his department-issued (body worn camera) activated at the time of the stop and he stated he did not recall,” Clark County Detective Brian Melchi wrote in his report.
The two discussed the traffic stop, the report says, and Beller said he read Harris his Miranda Rights and properly secured evidence.
“He was then asked if he photographed any of the evidence prior to moving the evidence from its original location and he advised he did not recall,” the investigation report says.
The report also says Beller was asked why he wasn’t wearing a body camera during the traffic stop and why the microphone in his car wasn’t on during the stop.
“He stated he does not know why the body mic was not on at first,” the report says. “He stated that when the audio came on very late in the stop, he thought he was turning it off to call (Clark County Major Andy Reynolds). He stated the body mic could have been off for days and he did not know it.”
Beller was also asked about his lost camera, according to the report. Reynolds told Melchi that Beller did inform him about the lost camera.
“He advised us that he did report this verbally to Major Reynolds,” the internal investigation report said. “He advised it was the same type digital cameras that are issued to everyone on the road patrol. He stated he lost the camera soon after this traffic stop and arrest in question.”
Beller told Melchi that because he lost the camera, he didn’t think there was reason to tell the prosecutor.
'I just lost the camera'
Beller told the Springfield News-Sun in an interview that he believes he did everything right during the traffic stop and denies making any untruthful statements in court.
"I wasn't prepared for court," Beller said. "They called me back just hours before. I was in training, I am in plain clothes, I didn't get to review the case. I review everything as you are supposed to and you should."
The time between the traffic stop and hearing — from April 2017 to January 2018 — made some details difficult to remember, Beller said.
He said he still believes Harris was speeding, that his window was tinted and that the vehicle was unsafe for the road.
“Had I never lost my camera, that guy would be in prison right now,” Beller said. “That’s the truth.”
Beller said he believes the defense attorney did a good job in the case and defended his client properly. He also said the sheriff’s office investigated the traffic stop and testimony correctly, too.
He said the case was part of an otherwise successful career at the Clark County Sheriff’s Office that included multiple awards, most recently the 2017 Sons of the American Revolution Clark County Sheriff Deputy of the Year.
He said serving the residents of Clark County was an honor.
Investigation results
A Clark County Sheriff’s Office Personnel Action Report, obtained by this newspaper, said that Beller violated three policies of the sheriff’s office during the traffic stop. However, it does say that the sheriff’s office investigation didn’t find that he was lying during his testimony.
“Judge O’Neill ruled that deputy Beller’s testimony was untruthful and suppressed the evidence he seized from the traffic stop,” the report says. “It is our belief that Deputy Beller did not give untruthful testimony, but had not properly prepared for the court case and did not review the in-car video.”
The internal investigation found that Beller went against office policy by not having a body camera and microphone on during a traffic stop and violated rules of conduct.
It found that he cited an incorrect statute in his report, his report was not filled completely and he lost the office-issued digital camera used during the traffic stop.
He was given a written reprimand, was taken off road patrol and assigned to the jail for 120 days.
Beller told the Springfield News-Sun that the move was a voluntary reassignment, adding that it was the office’s expectation that he review his other cases to ensure they were ready to move forward in the legal system.
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