HOWLAND, Ohio - The appeal of a Howland man convicted on cocaine and fentanyl possession charges has been denied by the Ohio 11th District Court of Appeals on Monday.

According to the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, 35-year-old Zachary O'Meara is currently serving a four-to-six-year prison sentence for three counts of possession of cocaine and one count of possession of a fentanyl-related compound.

He was also ordered to pay a $30,000 fine.

O'Meara and his attorney filed an appeal to this conviction claiming the trial court erred by denying O'Meara's presentence motion to withdraw his plea of no contest and that he received ineffective assistance of trial counsel.

The appeal claimed that the counsel had allowed O'Meara to plead no contest without the judge ruling on his motion to suppress evidence. The Appeals Court disagreed with this.

"There is no basis upon which to conclude that the trial court abused its discretion in denying Mr. O'Meara's motion... and there is nothing in the record establishing deficient performance or resulting prejudice based on the fact Mr. O'Meara entered his no contest pleas without a ruling on his motion to suppress," the court stated.

O'Meara's charges stem from an incident in September of 2021 when police came to O'Meara's house on Blue Winged Drive for a welfare check. It was there they recovered less than 27 grams of cocaine in three different locations and less than 27 grams of fentanyl and a semi-automatic weapon with ammunition.

O'Meara is expected to be released from prison in December of 2026.