YOUNGSTOWN — Charles Lanier, 50, of Bedford, was facing enough drug and weapons charges to get a lengthy prison sentence Tuesday, but a motion to suppress filed in the case changed all that, and now he is looking at probation.

Lanier entered a guilty plea Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to heroin possession, a third-degree felony, as a result of an April 23 traffic stop on East Main Street in Canfield.

He was indicted on first-degree felony cocaine possession, heroin possession, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of improperly handling firearms in a motor vehicle and one misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.

But his attorney, Mark Lavelle, filed a motion to suppress the evidence related to the traffic stop, arguing that police did not have probable cause to search the vehicle.

During the hearing, Rob Andrews, assistant county prosecutor, said that prosecutors were willing to dismiss all of the charges except the mid-level heroin possession and recommend probation for Lanier “based on” the suppression filing and the probable-cause issues raised.

Andrews said during a traffic stop, it appeared that Lanier’s vehicle did not have a license plate or temporary tag. But as the officer approached the vehicle, he observed that Lanier did have a license plate registration on the vehicle.

At that point, the officer spoke briefly to Lanier and smelled marijuana, leading to the vehicle being searched.

Andrews said there is case law on whether the officer was justified in getting close enough to the driver to speak to him briefly, so there would have been risk for the prosecution and for Lanier as to which side would have prevailed on whether to exclude the evidence resulting from the traffic stop.

Lavelle clarified that the charges arose from “purely a traffic stop with no impaired or illegal driving.” Lanier was willing to withdraw his motion to suppress in exchange for the plea, Lavelle said.

After a question from Judge R. Scott Krichbaum, Andrews said Lanier possessed two firearms during the traffic stop and Lanier “does have a fairly long record of drug convictions.”

Lanier will be sentenced at 9:30 a.m. Sept. 23. He has been in the Mahoning County jail since April 24.

Staff photo / Ed Runyan
Charles Lanier, 50, of Bedford, right, is seen during his plea hearing Tuesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. He pleaded guilty to heroin possession, and prosecutors will recommend that he get probation. At left is his attorney, Mark Lavelle.