Enhanced Firearm Possession Punishment Backed by Sixth Circuit

A Memphis man failed to show that a 36-year prison sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm for his role in a shooting was unlawfully excessive, the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said.

Deangelus Thomas argued that he couldn’t receive an enhanced sentence based on his three prior violent felony convictions under the Armed Career Criminal Act because jury didn’t reach a decision on it. But the “failure to charge the jury was harmless,” Judge John B. Nalbandian of the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said in a Wednesday opinion affirming ...