Man facing weapons charge to remain in jail pending trial

CEDAR RAPIDS - A Cedar Rapids police investigator misidentified witnesses while he was testifying last week during a detention hearing for a man charged with illegally possessing a gun, but a federal judge, upon hearing additional testimony to clear up the mistake on Friday, decided to affirm his original ruling.

U.S. Chief Magistrate C.J. Williams ruled David T. Heard, 39, of Cedar Rapids, will remain in jail pending trial in U.S. District Court.

Williams said his ruling is based on Heard's lengthy criminal history, including multiple violent crime convictions. Some of the crimes were committed while other charges were pending against Heard or while he was on probation, Williams noted.

Heard is accused of throwing a gun into the brush after he was involved in a July 30 car crash near the intersection of Glass and Redbud roads NE in Cedar Rapids. During a search of the crash area, a canine found a .45-caliber Taurus pistol and a plastic bag containing 27 smaller bags of marijuana in the nearby brush, according to a compliant.

A witness to the crash - identified in court records as J.S. - said Heard was the person who threw out the gun, the complaint shows.

Heard told police he didn't throw anything and didn't know anything about a gun or marijuana.

During Friday's hearing, Cedar Rapids police officer John O'Brien testified he mixed up two female witnesses in the case - Heard's girlfriend, Chelsey Shaw, and Kendra Hatcher - when testifying last week.

He said it was actually Hatcher, not Shaw, who told police that Heard had asked if she knew J.S., who was testifying against him in the case.

After discovering the mistake, O'Brien followed up with Hatcher to confirm the details of the case.

Hatcher said she sent J.S. a text asking if he could identify Heard and then, during a phone call, Hatcher told J.S., 'They know where you live.”

O'Brien said he spoke with J.S., who confirmed those conversations and considered it a threat, so he took his family to a hotel and then to stay with relatives.

Hatcher told O'Brien she didn't mean it as a threat to J.S. and that Heard hadn't told her to threaten J.S. Hatcher said she knew the address of J.S. was listed on the police report, which Heard could access.

Chad Frese, Heard's Marshalltown lawyer, asked during Friday's hearing if there had been any threats against J.S. since the last hearing. O'Brien said no.

Frese argued the new information changes the testimony on which the judge based his findings last week.

Williams had said he found Shaw's testimony not credible.

But the testimony presented Friday shows she was telling the truth when she denied being the person to speak with J.S.

Williams said he thinks O'Brien's mix-up on witnesses is an 'honest mistake and not intentional.”

The prosecution also brought it to the court's attention right away and made the defense attorney aware of the mistake, he said.

Still, Williams said he doesn't think Heard would comply with conditions he might impose if released, based on his previous pretrial history.

A trial date has yet to be set.

l Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com