Posted on 12/07/2004 8:05:20 PM PST by SmithL
Felon-turned-community activist Perry Redd pleaded guilty today to federal charges he had a gun and crack in his possession earlier this year.
Redd was set to stand trial in U.S. District Court today on a three-count indictment but instead entered a plea agreement.
Under the agreement, one charge — that Redd was a convicted felon in possession of a gun — was dropped. Redd admitted the other two counts in which he was accused of possessing three grams of crack and a gun in the commission of a drug trafficking crime.
"I plead guilty, your honor," Redd told Senior Federal Judge James H. Jarvis.
Redd faces a mandatory minimum five-year prison term in the gun case and a maximum penalty of 20 years for possessing crack. He will be sentenced in February.
Redd spent time behind bars in the mid-1990s for robbery and theft but later became a well-known community activist who lobbied for workers’ rights. He also took on the role of police critic, hosting a cable television show in which he fielded complaints about the Knoxville Police Department and tried to organize a cadre of young people to videotape KPD officers.
But in February, KPD officers arrested Redd in the Walter P. Taylor Homes housing project after discovering a 10 mm Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol in his waistband and crack in a vial on his keychain.
Redd’s attorney, Assistant Federal Defender Kim Tollison, won a crucial first round in the court battle over the case, convincing a federal magistrate judge to bar prosecutors from using the gun or crack as evidence against Redd.
Tollison had argued Redd never agreed to be searched when, in response to an officer’s request, he put his hands into the air and turned his back to the officer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracee Plowell appealed to Jarvis and won. But before Jarvis ruled, Redd, who had been allowed to stay at a halfway house, fled to Michigan after testing positive for cocaine use. He was captured a few weeks later after jumping from the window of a three-story building when authorities arrived to arrest him.
Ooooh! I found another place to drop this one!
http://www.americanfreepress.net/Censored/11_02%20Anti-Gun%20Spokesman%20Arrest.htm
Excuse me, but I can't stop laughing!
I believe the "felon in possession of a firearm" charge would have meant a lengthy mandatory stay in a federal joint far from home in a place where he would have no "home boys" in there with him and only rare visits from family members. Criminals want to avoid imposition of that statute at almost any cost and it is the reason that in states which use it many criminals do not carry firearms. So, it would be my guess that he pled guilty to the remaining charges because there would be more flexibility in sentencing.
I'm shocked to find that a felon has broken the law.
Now we know why he hated cops so much, eh?
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