Press Release
Contact:
CHRISTOPHER M. O’CONNOR
PHILLP J. GREEN
ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY
PHONE: (616) 456-2406
GRAND RAPIDS FELON SENTENCED TO ALMOST TWENTY YEARS
IN PRISON FOR DISCHARGING A FIREARM OUTSIDE JULIAN’S II BAR
MONDAY, MARCH 2, 2009 -
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – Walter Antraell Wilson, age 28, of Grand Rapids was
sentenced to 235 months in federal prison, five months short of twenty years, following his
conviction by a jury for being a felon in possession of ammunition, U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis
announced today. In addition to his 235-month prison sentence, Wilson was ordered to serve five
years of supervised release. Wilson was sentenced by the Hon. Paul L. Maloney, Chief U.S. District
Judge in Kalamazoo.
Wilson – who was on state parole for delivery of cocaine at the time of the incident – was found guilty by a jury on October 23, 2008, after a two-day trial in Kalamazoo. The jury heard evidence that, at approximately 2:00 a.m. on August 27, 2007, a Grand Rapids Police Department officer was monitoring the parking lot behind Julian’s II bar on South Division Avenue. After a fight broke out in the parking lot, the officer observed Wilson discharge one round from a handgun straight up into the air. The officer chased Wilson down a side street, arrested him, and recovered a Harrington & Richardson .38 caliber revolver from Wilson’s flight path. The firearm was loaded with two live rounds of ammunition and one spent shell casing. Wilson was charged with being a felon in possession of the ammunition, rather than possession of the handgun, because of an antique firearms exception under federal law.
Wilson was sentenced as an “Armed Career Criminal,” which carries a mandatory minimum 15-year sentence of imprisonment for individuals with three or more prior convictions involving a violent felony or serious drug offense. Wilson had committed two prior serious drug offenses and one violent felony: (1) delivery of cocaine in 2000; (2) fleeing and eluding a police officer in 2005; and (3) delivery of cocaine in 2006, all of which were incurred in the 17th Circuit Court in Kent County. Additionally, Wilson had accumulated nine other adult criminal convictions on his record, for a total of 12 prior convictions since 1997.
U.S. Attorney Donald A. Davis praised the coordinated investigative efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (“ATF”) and the Grand Rapids Police Department. The federal prosecution of Wilson was undertaken as part of the Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative, a program linking federal, state, and local law enforcement in a coordinated effort to deter gun violence and prosecute violent offenders who commit gun crimes.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Phillip J. Green and
Christopher M. O’Connor.
END
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