Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown man is going to trial on a federal gun charge, but his lawyer is arguing the case against him should be thrown out because the Girard officer who had pulled him over was using a radar unit with the wrong antenna.

Lewis Powell II, 42, of Miller Street, faces a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge came from a May 29, 2021, traffic stop in Girard in which city officer had clocked him on radar going 61 mph in a 35 mph zone, court documents state.

A subsequent search of Powell’s car turned up a handgun, something Powell is not allowed to have because of a 2014 federal conviction for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute heroin.

A trial on the gun charge is scheduled for Jan. 24 before U.S. Judge Patricia A. Gaughan of the Northern Ohio District Court. A suppression hearing to determine the legality of the traffic stop is scheduled for Jan. 18 before Judge Gaughan.

In a motion, defense attorney Regis McGann wrote that a policy for the manufacture of the radar unit states that the unit must not be considered certified if it is using an antenna from another unit without being calibrated. McGann claims Girard police did not have a record of any recalibration of the unit after the antenna was switched. McGann argues then that the traffic stop that led to the gun charge against Powell must be ruled unlawful.

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