DENVER-
A federal judge on Monday rejected a former Denver firefighter’s request for a new trial on weapons charges, saying while the government withheld evidence, it would not have helped him win acquittal.
Under the ruling, the court will schedule a sentencing date for Stan Ford, 36, who was convicted in June of selling a machine gun but acquitted on three other weapons charges. Ford faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
After his conviction, Ford asked U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn for a new trial. He argued that prosecutors withheld e-mails between him and Keith Heavilin, a confidential informant, that could have proved that Ford was entrapped by Heavilin, who sold him an illegal machine gun.
Ford argued he considered Heavilin as a father figure and was particularly susceptible to Heavilin’s suggestions that Ford said pushed him into selling a machine gun.
Three e-mail messages “arguably favorable” to Ford were withheld by prosecutors, but none of them would have helped his case enough to justify a new trial, the judge wrote.
Evidence that was available to Ford during his trial permitted him to adequately argue “his unwillingness and inability to satisfy” Heavilin’s efforts to buy a machine gun, Blackburn wrote.
