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Ex-deputy will be sentenced Jan. 9

WHEELING — Mark Cowden, the retired Hancock County sheriff’s lieutenant who was convicted on a deprivation-of-rights charge in October, will be sentenced on Jan. 9, according to court records.

U.S. District Court Judge Frederick P. Stamp Jr. said the sentencing could go forward now that a pre-sentence report has been completed by the U.S. Probation Office. The hearing is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Jan. 9 in Wheeling.

Cowden, 51, of Weirton, faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 as a result of his conviction.

A Wheeling jury found Cowden guilty of one count of deprivation of rights under color of law in connection with his handling of the booking of drunken driving suspect Ryan Hamrick on Jan. 27, 2015. Prosecutors said Cowden pushed Hamrick, 37, into the wall and punched him while escorting him in the lobby of the Hancock County Courthouse.

Cowden said the force he used was proportional to the resistance he received from Hamrick and that Hamrick’s injuries were the result of his earlier DUI arrest by a West Virginia state trooper. The jury acquitted him of a charge of obstruction of justice.

Although he ran for Hancock County sheriff as the Republican candidate, he lost to incumbent Sheriff Ralph Fletcher, a Democrat, in November.

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