Ironwood man's trial continues

By RICHARD JENKINS

rjenkins@yourdailyglobe.com

Bessemer - The trial of an Ironwood man charged with multiple drug and firearm felonies continued in Gogebic County Circuit Court Wednesday.

Day 2 of the trial of Donovan Howard Payeur, 32, continued with more prosecution witnesses testifying against Payeur; who is standing trial on seven counts - possession of methamphetamine with intent to deliver, conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to deliver, felon in possession of a weapon, felon in possession of ammunition, possession of a controlled substance-Vicodin, possession of a controlled substance-marijuana and possession of a weapon while committing a felony.

Payeur was one of four co-defendants charged in relation to a Sept. 24, 2015 incident at a E. Coolidge Ave., Ironwood, house.

The other three defendants -Payeur's wife, Kristina Marie Payeur; Ryan Frank Reinhard and James Charles Engles - all took plea agreements and have already been sentenced.

According to testimony presented in court Tuesday, the Sept. 24 incident began with a noise complaint regarding the Coolidge Ave., house. While officers initially left the scene without talking to anyone about the noise complaint, they later came across two people having car trouble that acknowledged being at the house earlier and that drugs and a gun were present.

The statements from these individuals - identified as Engles and Christine Leonzal - was used as the basis for a search warrant of the property, which resulted in the discovery of a TEC-9 handgun and drugs, including crystal meth. At around the time the house was searched, local law enforcement officers also conducted a nearby traffic stop of a vehicle Payeur was driving, which subsequently resulted in the discovery of a Vicodin pill, marijuana and a box of ammunition.

Kristina Payeur and Engles were among the prosecution witnesses testifying Wednesday, with Reinhard listed as a possible prosecution witness as well. Testimony against their co-defendants was a stipulation of all three plea agreements.

Payeur - who pleaded guilty to a possession of meth charge in December 2015 and was sentenced to six months in jail and two years probation in July - testified she and Donovan had originally lived in Mellen, Wis., before she and the children moved to his parents' Highbridge, Wis., house in the summer of 2015 as a result of his drug use.

She testified she moved to the E. Coolidge Avenue house in September 2015 after Donovan promised it was a fresh start away from drugs.

Upon arriving at the house - two days before the police executed the search warrant - Kristina testified she found it uninhabitable, with several people she didn't know helping Donovan clean it.

"It was dirty, there was no refrigerator, no water," Payeur testified, describing the strangers in the house as "not my kind of people ... they were high on drugs."

She also testified regarding the TEC-9, saying it was hers and Donovan's as he was unable to own a firearm as a felon. She said she never fired it, only saw it at the Highbridge house when it was purchased, never saw a bill of sale or paid anyone for it and didn't know what happened to it until it was found during the search.

She also testified that she had previously used meth, never with her husband, but was now sober. She testified she was using as much as 10 to 12 grams in a 24-hour period - a point of contention in the trial has been whether the approximately 15 grams of meth found at the during the search was too large to be considered for personal use.

Later Wednesday, Engles testified the most meth he ever consumed in a day was less than one gram, saying those with a higher tolerance could maybe use 2.5 to three grams a day without overdosing.

"On my best day, like I said, (I'd use) a little over a quarter gram to a half gram on a daily basis for myself," Engels testified, saying he might use as much as one gram if he had the money - but that also involved sharing with other addicts.

He laughed at the suggestion of using 10 to 12 grams a day, saying even using more than five or six grams would likely lead to an overdose death within a couple of weeks.

"That's a pretty big number," he said, laughing.

During his cross examination, defense attorney Mark McDonald questioned Kristina regarding what she knew about Engles and his using meth with Payeur. She testified she was aware he brought meth to Ironwood but wasn't sure she would classify him as a dealer - McDonald said in his opening statement Engles was a dealer visiting the area as a supplier, instead of buyer - and that she never got high with him.

Upon further questioning from Chief Assistant Prosecutor Tracie Wittla, she said her knowledge of Engles as supplying Donovan with drugs was based on what he told her. She also said several pipes, and some marijuana, found in the search were hers.

Following Kristina Payeur's testimony, Engels took the stand.

In November 2015, Engles pleaded to possession of meth and was sentenced to nine months in jail and one year of probation in July.

Wednesday, Engles testified he first met Donovan Payeur in July 2015 while both men were living in Minnesota. In addition to testifying he traveled to the Ironwood area that summer with Payer - seeing Payeur in possession of the TEC-9 and using meth together - Engles testified he was visiting Payeur Sept. 23 to return a car he had been lent prior to Payeur's permanent move to Michigan. While visiting in September, Engles said he helped Payeur move things from his parent's Highbridge house to Ironwood - including the toolbox that police would discover meth in. Engles testified Payeur gave him meth twice while in Ironwood, once on credit and a second time as an apology for scaring Leonzal after mistakenly believing Engles had stolen the truck he was driving that belonged to Payeur's father.

Wednesday's testimony began with additional law enforcement officials testifying about their roles during the Sept. 24 search.

Ironwood Public Safety Department Lt. Michael Rimkus took the stand first. He testified that he was in a patrol car and was told to be on the lookout for a red Honda CRV that had left the house prior to the search warrant being executed. Rimkus testified he saw the vehicle run a stop sign and pulled it over on Coolidge Avenue a couple houses away from Payeur's residence.

According to Rimkus' testimony, Payeur was driving the vehicle and Reinhard was a passenger.

After a box of ammunition was observed in the vehicle - which was illegal for Reinhard to be in the vehicle with as Rimkus said he knew Reinhard has a felony conviction.

Once both Payeur and Reinhard were out of the vehicle, Rimkus testified he searched both as a safety precaution to determine if they were armed, which is when he discovered a Vicodin pill and marijuana in Payeur's pocket.

When cross-examined by McDonald, Rimkus said he couldn't speak to whether any methamphetamine was found in Payeur's vehicle as he took Payeur to the Ironwood Public Safety Department to be interviewed by another officer.

Rimkus was followed on the stand by IPSD Director Andrew DiGiorgio, who assisted with the traffic stop and then the search of the Coolidge Avenue, property's garage.

DiGiorgio testified he discovered a bag containing what was suspected to be meth while searching the garage.

DiGiorgio was followed by Hurley Police Department Sgt. Don Packmayer, who testified he was responsible for photographing evidence during the search and authenticated a number of photos that were entered into evidence.

Iron County Sheriff's Department Lt. Paul Samardich next testified, telling the court he cut the lock of the cabinet in the garage that the meth was found in and also assisted with searching part of the house's living room. While searching the living room, Samardich said he found several pipes that can be used to smoke narcotics, a bag of what appeared to be marijuana and the TEC-9 gun.

Once Wittla established how some of the evidence against Payeur was found, she called IPSD Officer Brandon Snyder and Michigan State Police forensic scientist John Lucey to testify regarding what the evidence showed.

Snyder testified that he field-tested two bags of meth to confirm what the substance was.

When cross-examined, Snyder said he never fingerprinted the TEC-9 or ammunition found in the home, explaining the surfaces made it unlikely a viable print would be retrieved. He did send the bags containing meth to the crime lab in Marquette in the hope that their more sophisticated tests could detect a print, but nothing was found on the bags either.

Lucey discussed the chain of custody for the evidence, after it was sent from Ironwood to Marquette and then the lab in Grayling Lucey worked at.

He said he confirmed several of the chemicals as well, including the meth, and measured the amounts in the bags - which contained .13 grams and 14.72 grams of meth respectively.

The trial will continue Thursday morning with testimony from additional prosecution witnesses.