Dana Usery pleaded guilty in 2014 to possessing the weapon.
TRENTON -- An appeals court on Tuesday sided with a Trenton police officer's version of how he found a handgun, holster and bullets in a suspect's home.
Dana Usery, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to possessing the weapon, challenged Police Officer Otis Wood's version of the gun discovery, which occurred in 2013 in Usery's residence in Trenton.
Dana Usery Wood was working on a U.S. Marshals' fugitive task force when he and other agents arrested Usery.
Usery was apprehended when he walked out of a bedroom clad only in boxer shorts and a tank top, court testimony said.
Wood went into the bedroom to get Usery's pants and found the gun, holster and ammunition. The officer saw a "a very large gun protruding from a holster on the bunk bed where defendant's pants were located," the appeals case said.
Wood also noticed "two holsters on a radiator and ammunition on a dresser in the bedroom."
At a suppression hearing in Mercer County Superior Court, in 2014, Usery testified the gun, ammunition, and holsters found at his residence were his.
But Usery testified the gun was not on the bunk bed or in the holster -- it was in a dresser drawer and the holster was on the bed without the gun.
The trial judge issued a written decision finding that Wood was a more credible witness than Usery and said the evidence was properly seized.
Usery challenged that ruling in an appeal, saying the trial court erred in not believing him over the officerr.
The appeals panel was not swayed by Usery's argument, saying they found nothing to disturb the lower court's decision.
Usery, now 37, was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2015 for the gun charge, with a five-year minimum. He is currently eligible for parole in 2018.
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