Chicago Felon Sentenced to Over Two Years in Prison for Possessing a Gun

A Chicago man who fired a gun into the air was sentenced August 29, 2023, to more than two years in federal prison. 

Ivan Jerome Berry, age 39, from Chicago, Illinois, received the prison term after an April 14, 2023 guilty plea to possession of a firearm by a felon. 

Evidence at the plea hearing and sentencing hearing showed that in October 2022, Berry fired a gun into the air approximately four times.  This occurred at night near an apartment complex.  There were people in the area at the time who heard the shots.  There were no injuries or damage reports.  Berry is a felon and is prohibited from possessing firearms.  He has nine prior adult criminal convictions. 

Berry was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Berry was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a two-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), a program bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and gun violence, and to make our neighborhoods safer for everyone. On May 26, 2021, the Department launched a violent crime reduction strategy strengthening PSN based on these core principles: fostering trust and legitimacy in our communities, supporting community-based organizations that help prevent violence from occurring in the first place, setting focused and strategic enforcement priorities, and measuring the results.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Liz Dupuich and Ashley Corkery and investigated by the Dubuque Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Explosives and Firearms.     

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 23-CR-1004-LTS.

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