Former convicted felon, Jerome Hudson, pled guilty to possession of ammunition by a convicted felon earlier this year. The mandatory minimum penalty under federal law is 15 years. Mr. Hudson’s mandatory minimum sentence was driven by the Federal Armed Career Criminal Act. Mr. Hudson, who at the time was living in Lewiston, Maine, had a lengthy history that included assaults, armed assaults, drug possession cases and robbery. It seems that he lucked out and narrowly missed being sentenced under the Federal Career Offender Act, which would have required a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years to life.
Mr. Hudson confronted the father of his girlfriend’s children at a school bus stop where he then pulled out a 9mm pistol and fired at least three shots. Miraculously, no one was hit by the shots. While the shots were clearly meant for the boyfriend, anyone of those bullets could have struck and injured or even killed one of the children
According to court records, Mr. Hudson then fled the scene and dumped the pistol into a sewer drain. He then hid from police for a number of hours until he was finally apprehended. When questioned by the police, Mr. Hudson told the police that “you only have the ammo and that’s all you’re going to get. You won’t find the gun.” Mr. Hudson would later confess to discharging the pistol and dumping it in the sewer. The gun was never recovered.
Amazingly, Mr. Hudson could have gotten a much stiffer sentence as he discharged a handgun in the near proximity of the school children. That alone could have gotten him an additional 7 years on top of the 15 years he received; so in retrospect, 16 years seems to be a pretty good deal.
The federal criminal code is an extremely difficult area of law to comprehend. The sentencing guidelines are the size of a city phonebook as is the federal criminal code. If you’ve been charged with a federal criminal offense, chances are that you’re facing a much stiffer sentence than you would ordinarily face on the state side. You need an experienced federal criminal attorney on your side.
