Johnny McCray Jr., 29, was charged with burglary in Butler.

A Michigan man, charged with possessing drugs and a state trooper's stolen gun, attempted to have the charges against him dismissed Thursday, arguing that he was never in possession of the items.

Defense counsel for Johnny T. McCray Jr., 29, argued that he was never found with any drugs of weapons, but was only in the house where the items were found. His attorney, Rebecca Black, argued that the case is “built on speculation,” and “completely devoid of facts.”

McCray was charged with felony receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm prohibited, possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and conspiracy, as well as misdemeanor drug possession after a search warrant was conducted Dec. 4 on a home in the 100 block of South Street.

Police testified Thursday that the search warrant was executed after information was received from a suspect in a burglary, where a state police trooper's gun was stolen, that he traded the gun to a man at the South Street home.

Officer Nathan Shulick of the Butler Police Department, testified that the individual, who was unnamed in court proceedings, reported that he traded the gun for crack cocaine to a tall black male with dreadlocks who he knew as “Mitch” or “Meech.”

State police and Butler officers conducted the search warrant, which turned up 23 grams of crack cocaine and the stolen gun in the basement of the home, Shulik said.

But Shulik testified that besides the matching description, he couldn't say for certain if McCray was the person known as “Meech” or “Mitch” and that the gun had never been fingerprinted and tested against McCray's prints.

Read more about this case in the Butler Eagle.>/em>