federal jury convicts tama county man on gun charges
Contact: Peter Deegan
A man who acted as his own trial attorney on two gun charges was convicted by a jury on January 6, 2011, after a four-day trial in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Jason Harriman, age 36, from Traer, Iowa, was convicted of two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The verdict was returned yesterday afternoon following about 1½ hours of jury deliberations.
The evidence at trial showed that Harriman was convicted of two felonies in Fayette County, Iowa, in 1997. A September 28, 2009, search of his rural Traer residence resulted in the discovery of a Ruger .22 rifle and .22 ammunition. On October 25, 2009, while Harriman was on state court release on charges related to the Ruger rifle and an alleged attempted murder of his ex-wife, an undercover officer sold Harriman a Glock handgun Harriman had asked a friend to obtain for him.
After the state gun charge was dismissed in favor of federal prosecution, Harriman acted as his own attorney on the state charges and was acquitted. He was not successful when he acted as his own attorney on the federal charges.
Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Harriman remains in custody of the United States Marshal pending sentencing. Harriman faces a possible maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment, a $500,000 fine, $200 in special assessments, and 6 years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bob Teig as part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a cooperative local, state, and federal program aimed at the enhanced prosecution of gun crimes. The case was investigated by the Tama County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is CR 10-23.
