Thursday, April 18, 2019
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Federal prosecutors this week are opposing a motion to release a Campbell man from detention after a magistrate ruled earlier this year in favor of the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence.
Prosecutors said Brian Gatewood, 38, should remain in detention because their appeal of U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas M. Parker’s ruling has not been heard.
Gatewood is charged in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio with intent to distribute controlled substances. He was charged after he was arrested in March 2018 by Campbell police after they questioned him for walking in the street. In Campbell, there is an ordinance stating a person must walk on the sidewalk unless there is no usable sidewalk present.
When Gatewood was arrested, reports said police found crack cocaine, marijuana and amphetamine.
Gatewood’s attorney asked for the evidence to be tossed out. He said the stop was unconstitutional because police detained his client for an unreasonable amount of time, which was how they found the evidence. The officers could have given a warning or even a minor misdemeanor summons, Gatewood’s lawyer said.
On Dec. 26, Parker recommended to Judge Donald Nugent that the evidence from the stop be suppressed. Federal prosecutors appealed that ruling to the magistrate Jan. 10.
Gatewood has been in federal custody since he was arraigned July 17 on the charge. His attorney asked April 1 for Gatewood’s release because of the magistrate’s ruling.
Prosecutors objected, saying Gatewood should remain in detention because even though the magistrate ruled in his favor, a judge has still not accepted that recommendation, so it has no legal effect.
Court records do not show any timetable for when a ruling may be made on the prosecutor’s appeal of the ruling. A pretrial conference with Judge Nugent is set for Tuesday, court records show.