U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman announced today that a federal grand jury sitting in Cleveland has returned a two-count indictment charging Marlin Black, age 28, of Youngstown with illegal possession of a machine gun and receipt or possession of an unregistered firearm.
According to court records, on July 31, 2020, Youngstown Police were called to a domestic violence dispute involving gunshots. The victim of the dispute claimed that the defendant had allegedly fired a gun towards her. Officers later arrested the defendant and recovered four firearms, ammunition and narcotics. The defendant then allegedly placed a phone call from jail and mentioned additional firearms located at his residence. A search warrant was obtained for the residence and officers located a Glock model 17, with a machine gun conversion device attached. The firearm was not registered to the defendant in the National Forearms Registration and Transfer Record, as required by law.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation.
In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum, and in most cases, it will be less than the maximum.
The investigation preceding the indictment was conducted by the Youngstown Police Department and ATF. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Yasmine Makridis.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
