Lawyers for three men arrested Sunday in Ashland on gun charges argued in Framingham District Court that police did not have a right to search the car in which the three were riding.
Prosecutor David Clayton, however, said the driver, Robert McDaniel, 23, of Providence, R.I., gave police permission to search.
Ashland Police found a loaded .357 revolver, leading to the arrests of McDaniel, James Salvi, 25, and Richard Barlatier, 20.
Officers, Clayton said, were watching an address on Raymond Marchetti Street on Sunday night because of recent tips that gang activity had been taking place there. Police on Monday identified all three of the men as members of the Kendall Street Thugs, or KST, a Framingham street gang.
The officers saw McDaniel, Salvi and Barlatier leave that home and drive off, Clayton said.
Officers stopped the gray Nissan Maxima with blacked-out windows and Rhode Island plates on Myrtle Street around 8:30 p.m. because it was going 45 mph in a 30 mph zone, the prosecutor said.
McDaniel, the driver, appeared to have been drinking. Officers ordered him, Salvi and Barlatier out of the car.
"Officers asked (McDaniel) if there were any open containers of alcohol in the car," Clayton said. "He said no, but at the same time, he gave the officer consent to search the vehicle."
The officers saw a brown bag containing what they thought was a bottle of liquor between the two front seats. It did not have anything in it, but they did find a secret compartment that contained the loaded handgun. All three men were arrested, Clayton said.
Barlatier, of 238 Beacon St., Framingham, McDaniel, of 734 River Ave., Providence, and Salvi, of 78 Colonel Bell Drive, Brockton, were each charged with possession of a firearm without a license, possession of ammunition without a license and illegal possession of a loaded firearm.
Clayton asked Judge Paul Healy Jr. to hold McDaniel on $20,000 bail, Salvi on $15,000 and Barlatier on $2,000.
He cited McDaniel's long criminal record and that the car belonged to him as reasons for the high bail.
McDaniel, Clayton said, also has two open cases in Framingham District Court, with charges that include armed robbery and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. He asked Healy to revoke bail in those two cases.
Salvi recently left federal prison after serving a portion of a 60-month sentence for cocaine charges, Clayton said. Salvi is on probation for four years in that case, as well as two years' probation on a Middlesex Superior Court cocaine case.
Both courts plan on filing for warrants based on Sunday's arrest, Clayton said.
Barlatier has a short record but has missed court appearances several times, the prosecutor said.
McDaniel's lawyer, Daniel Levenson, argued that his client never gave police consent to search the car. Even so, the gun did not belong to McDaniel, Levenson said.
"He purchased (the car) used about a year ago and had no idea that (the gun) was in the car," Levenson said.
Barlatier's lawyer, Bridgett Bradley, questioned why her client was even charged.
"I'm not even sure there is probable cause to issue this complaint," she said. "My client is simply a backseat passenger in a car stopped for speeding."
Salvi's lawyer, Lindsay Kanter, said he had just entered the car and had no idea there was a gun there.
"Mr. Salvi was in the front seat, but there is no allegation that the firearm was within his view," she said. "This is a case, for Mr. Salvi at least, of being in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Healy ordered McDaniel and Salvi held on $15,000 bail each and ordered Barlatier held on $1,000 bail.
He also revoked the bail on McDaniel's two open cases, which means even if he posts bail on the new case, he will remain in custody.
All three men are due back in court Nov. 12 for a pretrial conference.
(Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@cnc.com.)
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