Criminal Charge:
A man charged in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts for:
- Felon in Possession of Firearms and Ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1)
Case Overview:
New Beford Police executed a search warrant at a local apartment, in search for illegally possessed firearms. Upon arrival, officers encountered a man, who was staying with his girlfriend and their kids. He immediately cooperated with the officers to avoid disrupting the household with an aggressive search by multiple police officers. As such, the man directed the officers’ attention to behind his living room couch where they located and seized three 9 mm handguns and 62 rounds of 9 mm ammunition. Based on this discovery, the man was first arrested and charged in New Bedford District Court, and later, indicted for the same conduct in United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. Because the man had several felony drug convictions, most of which stemmed from his ongoing substance abuse issues, he was charged with Felon in Possession of a Firearm and Ammunition. He retained Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer, John L. Calcagni III, to defend him in this matter.
Case Result: Supervised Release.
Attorney Calcagni first worked to secure his client’s release on bail in federal court, which is often challenging. The Court released the man into an in-patient substance abuse treatment program. The man completed this program and went on to complete the out-patient component. From there, he continued to maintain his sobriety, attend counseling, hold a job, and secure various certificates of completion from several job training courses. The man also was accepted to, and graduated from the RISE Program, a special program offered in the District of Massachusetts to certain offenders who appear to have strong rehabilitative potential. The man eventually pled guilty pursuant to an agreement he struck with the government. At sentencing, he faced a potential maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment. His U.S. Sentencing Guidelines called for a possible sentence of 33 – 41 months in jail. However, because of the man’s many accomplishments during the pretrial phase of his case, Attorney Calcagni persuaded the Court to impose a sentence of no jail, but a term of supervised release that included conditions to ensure the man maintains his sobriety.
