Not a jihadist, city man says at gun sentencing

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http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070109/NEWS/701090645/1116

Not a jihadist, city man says at gun sentencing

By Lee Hammel TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
[email protected]


WORCESTER— When the U.S. Attorney’s office did not formally file allegations of terrorism or a connection between a holy war and the weapons charges against a Worcester defendant, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV yesterday sentenced the man to less than half the time recommended by federal sentencing guidelines.

Judge Saylor called the case against Samuel J. Lewis, 33, of 23 Mount Vernon St., “unique,” creating the first serious disagreement he had with the result produced by the guidelines in his 27 months as a judge. He sentenced Mr. Lewis to 15 months in prison — well below the 41 to 51 months recommended by the sentencing guidelines, but much more than the “time served” — 13 days — federal defender Timothy G. Watkins asked for.

Mr. Lewis bought weapons, including a short-barrel shotgun that is highly regulated under the National Firearms Act, from licensed dealers Clarence Edgar Floyd of Lunenburg; Sparky’s Gun Shop in Webster; Village Gun Shop in Northboro; Match Shot Firearms in Gardner; Wayne’s Weaponry in West Boylston; and The Gun Room in Shrewsbury.


Mr. Lewis was charged with 15 counts of making false statements while buying 16 weapons, including assault rifles, a short-barrel shotgun and pistols.

Assistant U.S. Attorney B. Stephanie Siegmann objected to the decision and Mr. Watkins said he will appeal both the jury conviction and the judge’s sentence. Mr. Watkins said the U.S. Attorney’s office has never prosecuted anyone for giving a false address, regardless of intent, when they have not been barred from having the weapons, as Mr. Lewis was not, nor had he provided weapons to someone barred from having them.

Mr. Watkins noted that Mr. Lewis, a black man who converted to Islam, was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s anti-terrorism and national security unit, not the major crimes unit that usually prosecutes fraud.

Ms. Siegmann said the defense analysis of other defendants and the lower sentences they received was faulty. She also said the government was not abandoning its contention that Mr. Lewis had expressed a desire to die in a holy war, adopted the name of Shaheed — Arabic for “martyr,” expressed anti-American sentiments and visited Middle Eastern countries.

She said that the government had not presented evidence of that during the trial or the sentencing hearing yesterday because it could not prove a connection between the weapons Mr. Lewis had and terrorist activities.

Judge Saylor said yesterday that he does not conclude that Mr. Lewis was the victim of illegal selective prosecution or bad faith by the government. Still he said he was “anguished” by the case—both the government’s and the defendant’s actions.

The judge noted that Mr. Lewis gave his true name and Social Security number and the address of his mother’s residence, so that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could and did find him. Yet, as the prosecutor noted, three of the weapons he bought remain missing, Congress clearly made a felony of the act of giving a false address, and Mr. Lewis spent at least $2,800 on guns while he relied on Catholic Charities and the Worcester Housing Authority for housing.

Ms. Siegmann said part of the purpose of Mr. Lewis’ false statements were to defraud those organizations, because the gun purchases could have disqualified him from their programs, while she said it is not certain that is the only reason for his actions. Mr. Watkins said if the government believes that fraud was Mr. Lewis’ motive, then it should have prosecuted him for fraud, which the defense lawyer said would have resulted in a sentencing guideline of nothing to 6 months in prison.

With his wife, dressed in traditional Muslim garb, and 7 other supporters watching, Mr. Lewis declared to Judge Saylor, “I’m not a jihadist.” He said that he is a “gun hobbyist” and “a person who respects the law.”

Mr. Lewis said that he had been “in transition” with many addresses during the period in which he bought the guns. He said he consulted Worcester police before listing his mother’s address on the federal paperwork for buying the guns.

Ms. Siegmann said he also used an address at which he had not lived for more than six months. She said Mr. Lewis also lied about providing two of the guns to a man who had no firearms license, even though the jury acquitted him on those charges.

Judge Saylor gave Mr. Lewis four weeks to report to the Bureau of Prisons to begin his sentence, a length of time that the prosecutor objected to. The judge also imposed 3 years of supervised probation after the defendant’s release, a $300 mandatory special assessment and no fine.

 

[Admin]

The judge noted that Mr. Lewis gave his true name and Social Security number and the address of his mother’s residence, so that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could and did find him. Yet, as the prosecutor noted, three of the weapons he bought remain missing, Congress clearly made a felony of the act of giving a false address, and Mr. Lewis spent at least $2,800 on guns while he relied on Catholic Charities and the Worcester Housing Authority for housing.

Ms. Siegmann said part of the purpose of Mr. Lewis’ false statements were to defraud those organizations, because the gun purchases could have disqualified him from their programs, while she said it is not certain that is the only reason for his actions. Mr. Watkins said if the government believes that fraud was Mr. Lewis’ motive, then it should have prosecuted him for fraud, which the defense lawyer said would have resulted in a sentencing guideline of nothing to 6 months in prison.

What a crock of shit... And once again, a criminal who knowing breaks the existing firearms laws gets 1/3 of the recommended sentence...

 

[Twigg]

Hmmmm

Let's see, false address, living quarters provided by charites and the welfare system, takes the Arabic name for "Martyr", 16 firearms at an average price of $175.00 - with several unaccounted for - and he expects us to believe he isn't a terrorist ?

WTF !

15 months isn't enough time. He got off waaaaaay to easy.

 

[Marcus in the Darkus]

Something's fishy about this one, especially the bit about the missing firearms. Living on the dole and misrepresenting his residential address while buying firearms is clearly over the line. I'm glad that BATFE is going after cases like this - it's where they should be focusing their enforcement efforts.

 

[hminsky]

War on terror, yeah right. So my eighty year old mother can't bring a nail scissors or a tube of toothpaste with her on the airplane, but Johnny Jihad can lie about his address and buy and "lose" a bunch of high cap weapons and he's getting the minimum penalty.

What the hell is the matter with people in this country?