Previously Convicted Felon Sentenced to 69 Months in Federal Prison for Illegal Possession of a Firearm

            WASHINGTON – Jovan James, 45, of the District of Columbia, was sentenced yesterday to 69 months in federal prison for illegally possessing a firearm and ammunition on November 25, 2024.

            The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro, Special Agent in Charge Anthony Spotswood of the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, , Special Agent in Charge Ibrar A. Mian of the Drug Enforcement Administration Washington Division, and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

            James pleaded guilty on March 5, 2025, to one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ordered James to serve three years of supervised release.

            According to court documents, on Nov. 25, 2024, at about 4:55 p.m., MPD officers were patrolling the 5000 block of H Street SE, when they noticed James smoking marijuana in a public space. Officers placed James under arrest. During a search incident to arrest, officers recovered a loaded black Glock 23 .40 caliber pistol with an obliterated serial number from James’s waistband. The handgun was loaded with 12 rounds of ammunition.

            James was previously convicted of first degree murder while armed in February 1998 in the District of Columbia and sentenced to a 30-year prison term. James was resentenced in August 2019 to a 22-year prison term and placed on supervised probation for five years under the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act (IRAA).

            This case was investigated by the Washington Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Metropolitan Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sabena Auyeung.

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