Sentence Enhancements for Perjury at Trial and Prior Violent Felony Convictions

Urbana, Ill. – A Kankakee, Illinois man, Deandre Hampton, 28, has been ordered to serve 21 years in federal prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. Chief U.S. District Judge Michael P. McCuskey sentenced Hampton on Feb. 25. In rendering sentence, Judge McCuskey determined that Hampton had committed perjury when he testified on his own behalf at trial in August and that three prior violent felony convictions qualified the defendant as an armed career criminal under federal sentencing guidelines.

A jury convicted Hampton on Aug. 4, 2009, of possession of a firearm, a nine millimeter pistol, on Sept. 25, 2008, in Kankakee, by a convicted felon. According to court documents, Hampton has three prior violent felony convictions in Kankakee county: 1999 home invasion; 1999 aggravated battery on a peace officer; and 2007 aggravated battery on a peace officer. Hampton has remained in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since his arrest in December 2008.

The Kankakee Police Department and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives investigated the charge. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene L. Miller.