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Magistrate denies attorney request
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who had more than $3,400 on him when he was arrested on drug charges told a city magistrate during his arraignment Monday he had the money because of his prowess for mowing lawns.
Carlton Dyer, 28, of Trussit Avenue, was one of three people being arraigned before Magistrate Anthony Sertick in municipal court who were arrested at a house deemed uninhabitable about 6:40 p.m. Friday on Halleck Avenue.
Dyer asked for a court-appointed attorney and said he had no job and owned no property. When asked how he supported himself, he told the magistrate he cut grass and did odd jobs.
Magistrate Anthony Sertick asked where he got the money. “For a gentleman with no assets whatsoever, where did the $3,410 come from?”
“A lot of grass cutting,” Dyer replied.
That answer was not good enough as Magistrate Sertick denied his request for a court-appointed attorney, saying someone who had that much money could afford his own lawyer.
Dyer was arraigned on drug charges after police driving by the house noticed two people sitting on the porch who should not be there, because the house has been “red tagged,” or deemed uninhabitable by the city. Anyone who is there can be charged with trespassing.
A woman on the porch, later identified as Debra Carter, 48, gave police a false name, and when she was being led to a cruiser said there was a drug dealer inside. Police then announced that anyone inside should come out, and that’s when Fred Henderson, 65, and Dyer came out, reports said.
Inside, police found four bags of suspected marijuana and a small amount of crack cocaine as well as a loaded handgun. Dyer’s bond was set at $42,500.
Henderson was charged with possession of drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia. He denied knowing anything that had happened and claimed he was not in the same room as Dyer, but city Prosecutor Dana Lantz said he was able to tell police the gun they found belonged to Dyer.
“Whether he was in that room or not, he knew what was going on,” Lantz said.
Henderson’s bond was set at $6,500. Carter’s bond was not immediately available. She was arraigned on falsification and criminal trespass charges and also had two warrants.