A lawsuit against the city of Powell and the Powell Police Department has been scheduled for trial beginning Feb. 14, 2011.The date was set following an initial pretrial conference on May 13 between attorneys for the plaintiff, Tricia Wachsmuth, and the city and police department, before U.S. Magistrate Judge William Beaman.

As scheduled, the Feb. 14 jury trial is expected to last eight to 10 days.

Wachsmuth of Powell claims that police used excessive force during a drug raid on the home she shared with her husband, Bret, on Feb. 24, 2009. The search reportedly involved the use of a flashbang device and a battering ram at the East North Street residence.

In a complaint filed March 8 in the federal U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming, Wachsmuth claimed that officers never gave her time to answer the door as they served the search warrant, a violation of her civil rights. She also claims she was held at gunpoint and used as a human shield as police searched the house and that officers damaged a number of items in the search.

Neither Wachsmuth had a criminal history at the time of the raid, the complaint says.

Wachsmuth is seeking up to $1 million in damages for the department's alleged actions.

The city, Police Chief Tim Feathers and a dozen officers are named as defendants.

In filings, the city and police department have generally denied Wachsmuth's allegations.

Among 23 legal defenses, attorneys for the city and department have said that Wachsmuth's complaint was improperly filed, that the police department's actions were objectively reasonable, immune from lawsuit and necessary to protect the public good.

City and department attorneys also have said in filings in the department's defense that according to police's confidential informant, Bret and Tricia Wachsmuth were growing marijuana, acting paranoid and had loaded guns throughout the residence.

Two marijuana plants were recovered in the raid, along with two loaded and two unloaded guns, police have said.

The Wachsmuths were each charged with marijuana-related misdemeanor counts and reached plea agreements in which they served no jail time.

A final pretrial conference in Tricia Wachsmuth's federal civil case against the city and police has been slated for Jan. 13, 2011.

Whether the case actually goes to trial depends on a number of factors. For example, city and police department attorneys will likely seek to have the case dismissed, and it's possible the parties could reach a settlement between now and February.

Judge Beaman wrote that he believes the case has a fair chance of being possible to settle out of court.