Rice said the government is seeking pretrial detention and scheduled a hearing for Friday and a pretrial hearing for June 19. Evans said he understood the charge against him and would not be hiring his own attorney.

Rice informed Evans that being a felon in possession of a firearm has no minimum prison sentence but does have maximums of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, post-release supervision and forfeiture of weapons.

Montgomery County Common Pleas Court records indicate Evans has felony convictions for having weapons under disability, complicity to attempted felonious assault and assault on a police officer. Federal prosecutors could not say if those met the standards for felony crimes of violence.

Asked why Evans was being charged in district court, assistant U.S. attorney Amy Smith said it was because he violated federal law. Smith would not elaborate.

Evans was shackled before U.S. Marshals led him out of the courtroom.