YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – A man who was shot 15 times in the past year before being charged with gun possession charges is applying for release so he can continue treating his injuries.
Deandre Smith’s attorneys, 28, filed the application with Judge Sara Lioi in the U.S. Northern District Court of Ohio on Thursday.
Smith was charged by a federal grand jury on March 11 of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The indictment states that Smith allegedly owned a 9mm pistol on July 9, 2020, despite the 2017 Mahoning County’s Common Pleas Court convicted of a grave robbery in 2017. He was sentenced to four years in prison for this case, court records show.
The day Smith is accused of having the gun is the same day he was injured in a shootout that injured another person on the 100 block of N. Hazelwood Avenue on the west side of Youngstown.
No one has ever been arrested for the shooting.
Man arrested after breaking open door and bottles at Market Street gas station
Smith waived a pre-trial detention hearing in federal court on April 22nd.
Smith is currently being held on parole violation in his robbery case at the Ross Correctional Institution, but neither court records nor Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections records tell what the violation was or when he was recalled. He was due to be released Thursday for parole violation and then taken into custody by U.S. marshals on federal charges.
James Rantfl, Smith’s attorney, asked Judge Lioi if his client could reopen his custody hearing so he could treat his injuries.
Rantfl wrote that his client had “severe wounds on his arms and legs” and stage 4 kidney disease. Smith is on dialysis due to the condition of his kidneys, but that treatment has been delayed while he was in custody for the parole violation, Rantfl wrote.
Smith is asking for discharge so that he can receive medical attention and because of the severity of his injuries there is no risk of flying, Rantfl wrote.
Smith has also pleaded guilty to the case, which means he has accepted responsibility for his actions and is motivated to comply with any court order. If he does not do this, it will affect his conviction.
The prosecutor has yet to answer.
A hearing has not been scheduled.
