Cedar Rapids man acquitted of federal gun charge

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Cedar Rapids man with previous convictions was acquitted by a federal jury last week of illegally possessing a gun in 2020 when officers pulled him over for drunken driving on Interstate 380.

Clyde Bell Jr., 40, was charged with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm. He was indicted Oct. 29 of last year in U.S. District Court. The indictment alleged he was in possession of a loaded 9 mm pistol that was found in the center console of the vehicle he was driving on Oct. 4, 2020.

Mike Lahammer, Bell’s lawyer, said Bell was driving a Jeep belonging to his sister, but the gun belonged to his friend, Charles Conner, who has a permit to carry. Both testified at trial.

Connor testified he left the gun in the vehicle without Bell’s knowledge, Lahammer said. Connor left the gun in the vehicle because it kept falling out of the shorts he was wearing, he told the jury.

An officer testified marijuana was found in the vehicle with Bell and his blood tested positive for marijuana and ecstasy. The officer said a partial palm print was found on a gun magazine, but it was “inconclusive” as to whether it matched Bell.

Bell had two previous felony convictions and one misdemeanor domestic violence conviction, and he was an unlawful user of drugs, which both would make it illegal for him to possess a gun.

Lahammer said the jury, following a day and half of trial, returned the verdict after over three hours of deliberations.

Bell pleaded guilty last year in Linn County District Court to a charge of operating while under the influence — first offense — in the 2020 traffic stop.

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