Federal hammer falling on convicted felons with guns

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

By Torsten Ove, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When Pierre Rocelle Johnson got arrested in the East End last month on charges of carrying an illegal gun, he had a message for the Pittsburgh police who chased him down and took him into custody.

"Take a look at my rap sheet," he taunted an officer at the Allegheny County Jail, according to an affidavit. "I'll be out in no time and I'm going to get even with you."

SNIP

Since the beginning of the fiscal year in October 2003, the U.S. attorney's office has indicted 77 cases involving 89 defendants, most of them, like Johnson, convicted felons charged with carrying guns.

That compares to 34 cases in 2003, 52 in 2002, 37 in 2001 and 24 in 2000.

Rest of the article is here:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04167/331972.stm

Wow! Enforcing existing laws against felons who illegally carry guns. It didn't even require a new law!

...space is still an issue but most petty drug cases go to a medical court now and not a criminal one so we should have space soon. Both of these programs are facing some resistance but I am not exactly sure who from. I asked one politician I know what the deal is and what little I got indicated the Democrats are at fault; he is a Republican so I take that information in a fairly high sodium way.

If prosecutors can show that he has at least three prior convictions for violent crimes or drug dealing, he's looking at a mandatory 15 years behind bars.

This part is different from what we have here. You are basically screwed from day one if you are a violent felon caught with a gun. No passing go; no two hundred dollars. Stabbing and beating deaths have gone up but it is too early to tell if there is a correlation. The article does not state how gangs are treated. Here they are charged under RICO. Since it is a PSN program, I assume that the same is the case there.


"It's important to note that in federal court, the charge of possession of a gun by a convicted felon is considered a violent crime," Buchanan said. "So we have the ability to seek detention. That's a significant difference from state court."

Pierre Johnson thought his gun charges were no big deal, since they often are dropped or at least the suspect usually is released on bond at the state level. But because they are now federal charges, he remains in jail and could face as much as 15 years in federal prison.

This is one of the few things that the Republicans have gotten right. We have no candidate that can touch them in the area of domestic crime, and quite possibly national security.