Dawson man seeks bail reduction in theft case
A Dawson man once convicted of escape for cutting off an ankle bracelet to avoid house arrest wants a judge to reduce his bail in a theft case so he can return to his job as a self-employed contractor. Gerald Eugene Powell “has previously been released on bail and has appeared as required,” wrote his attorney, Ewing Newcomer, in a motion filed Tuesday in Fayette County Court.
Powell, 38, and two other men allegedly stole a jet ski and a trailer from a Connellsville home on May 21, 2002. He is charged with three counts of theft, receiving stolen property, and criminal conspiracy to commit both.
Ironically, when trooper James Pierce went to question Powell about the theft in May 2002, authorities found he removed an ankle bracelet meant to keep him on house arrest in an unrelated case. A relative at Powell’s former Texas Avenue home told police at the time that he just took off the bracelet and left. Authorities later caught up with Powell in Vanderbilt.
Powell pleaded guilty to the escape charge and was sentenced to six to 12 months in jail.
In the theft case, District Justice Ronald Haggerty set Powell’s bail at $25,000. Newcomer’s motion asked that the amount be reduced so Powell can go back to working for Affordable Plastering in Dawson, a company Powell owns.
If he is released, the filing indicates, Powell will live with a relative in Dawson.
Powell cut the ankle bracelet off two months after a Fayette County jury decided he was not guilty of killing Karen and Edward Povlik at their Connellsville Township home in January 1995.
While Powell was acquitted, a jury convicted David J. Robertson Jr., whom prosecutors alleged conspired with Powell to commit the murders, on two counts of criminal conspiracy to commit homicide.
Robertson was sentenced to 10 to 20 years in prison on the charges.
Jurors cited unreliable jailhouse witnesses as part of their decision to acquit Powell. Had Powell been convicted of first-degree murder, he would have faced the death penalty.