A Memphis man was sentenced Tuesday to nearly eight years in federal prison for his involvement in the burglary of a tractor-trailer and the theft of 107 guns being transported to retail stores in Houston.
Markeith Thomas, one of four men charged in the thefts that occurred a little over a year ago, is the third person to be sentenced after pleading guilty to possessing at least one of the stolen firearms. The other two men, also from Memphis, are serving federal sentences of 10 years and eight years. A fourth man is scheduled for trial in March after his attempt to plead guilty in December was rejected because he didn't admit to all elements of the charge.
Thomas appeared for sentencing Tuesday afternoon before U.S. District Judge Leon Holmes along with defense attorney David Cannon, who argued against a previous commercial-burglary conviction counting as a crime of violence on Thomas' record and increasing his penalty range. Cannon said no people were present during the burglary in question, and noted that Congress is considering removing burglaries from a list of offenses that are considered violent for sentencing purposes.
Cannon also argued that Thomas' sentence shouldn't be increased because the stolen guns were described as having high-capacity magazines, noting that the description applies to nearly any modern-day gun with a magazine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Mazzanti said the sentencing enhancement applies when a gun is stolen while in close proximity to a high-capacity magazine, and these guns were being shipped alongside high-capacity magazines. Also, she said, some of the 107 guns stolen on the night of Jan. 11, 2015 from the parked rig, and distributed throughout the Memphis area, were equipped with high-capacity magazines. Holmes overruled Cannon's objection.
The truck, transporting goods from a Gander Mountain distribution center in Indiana to retail stores in Texas, was parked overnight at a truck stop off Interstate 55 in Mississippi County. Authorities said it was one of about 80 big rigs burglarized from late December 2014 through early February 2015 in Crittenden, Mississippi and St. Francis counties.
Federal agents said thieves used bolt cutters to open the backs of the trucks in search of items worth stealing. Thefts didn't occur in all the break-ins.
Cannon argued that Thomas' criminal history consisted of mostly theft and drug charges, as opposed to violence-related charges, and that his motivation wasn't to further violence but to support his drug habit. Mazzanti agreed that Thomas deserved a lesser sentence than the other two defendants sentenced so far, but she said he still deserved a sentence within the range of 92 to 115 months recommended by federal sentencing guidelines.
Noting that Thomas has 17 convictions, seven of which were theft-related, Holmes refused to drop below the recommended guideline range and imposed a sentence of 92 months -- or 7.6 years.
Curtis Evans is serving 10 years, while Mario Marquell Ward is serving eight years, for their involvement in the gun thefts. Charges are pending against Gerry McDuffie, who said he was in the car with Ward, his nephew, and Evans at the time of the thefts, but didn't participate. His jury trial is to begin March 7.
Metro on 02/10/2016