United States Attorney Leura G. Canary Middle District of Alabama

POSSESSING FIREARM GETS MONTGOMERY FELON
37 MONTHS IN PRISON

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Leura G. Canary, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama, announced today that Willie James Calhoun, age 22, of Montgomery, Alabama, was sentenced in federal district court on October 24, 2007, to a term of 37 months in prison for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The district judge ordered that Calhoun serve 13 months of the sentence concurrently with a sentence he is presently serving in state prison. The remaining 24 months were ordered to be served in federal prison.

Calhoun previously pled guilty to possessing a .357 caliber handgun on October 28, 2004, in Montgomery County, after having been convicted of three felonies, including Robbery in the First Degree, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Section 922(g)(1). Federal law prohibits any person convicted of a felony offense from possessing a firearm.

The case was investigated as part of the Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods and the Middle District of Alabama’s Alabama ICE (Isolating the Criminal Element) programs, aimed at preventing violent crime and the illegal possession of firearms. According to United States Attorney Leura G. Canary, “By prosecuting felons who illegally possess firearms, we are sending a message that firearms crimes will not be tolerated in the Middle District of Alabama.”

This case was investigated through the joint efforts of the Montgomery Office of the Alabama Department of Probation and Parole and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Matthew Shepherd.