Troy Lamont Powell, Assault on a Federal Officer, North Carolina 2021

Troy Lamont Powell, a 32-year-old man from Ahoskie, North Carolina, was sentenced to 210 months in prison for stabbing a jail guard with a 6-inch metal shank.

On April 28, 2021, Powell, also known as ‘Gutter,’ pled guilty to the charges. The attack occurred on December 30, 2019, at the Franklin County Detention Center, where Powell was being held on federal drug and gun charges under contract with the United States Marshals Service.

According to court documents, Powell struck a jail guard in the rib cage with the shank, which was later recovered from his clothing. Powell continued to make threatening statements to other jail guards before being transported to another jail.

United States Marshal Michael East stated, ‘Any type of assault on a law enforcement officer cannot be tolerated. This case is exceptionally egregious because the detention officer was just trying to assist Mr. Powell and the attack was completely unprovoked.’

‘We will aggressively prosecute any federal inmate who has a weapon or who attacks a guard,’ said Acting U.S. Attorney G. Norman Acker, III. ‘Such behavior is totally contrary to our system of justice and the rule of law.’

G. Norman Acker, III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James C. Dever III. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (‘ATF’), the United States Marshals Service (‘USMS’), and the Kinston Police Department investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura S. Howard prosecuted the case.

Troy Lamont Powell’s exact criminal charges were not specified in the source material, but he was being held on federal drug and gun charges. The city and state of Ahoskie, North Carolina, are relevant to the case. The exact date of the attack was December 30, 2019. The sentence or outcome was 210 months in prison.

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