A Tennessee man who pleaded guilty to possession of a machine gun and possession of marijuana with intent to distribute was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison in a plea deal that saved him from a likely 30-year minimum prison term had he elected to go to trial.
Demarius Moore, 23, of Cordova, Tenn., was arrested Feb. 2, 2022, by Saline County deputies and Arkansas State Police after he was clocked traveling 95 miles per hour on Interstate 30 in Saline County. According to Saline County authorities, Moore fled from a traffic stop in Bryant, then crashed his car and fled on foot after a state trooper forced his car off the road.
A search of his vehicle turned up approximately 10.5 pounds of marijuana, a fully automatic Glock handgun and an AR15-style rifle. After police identified him, records said, it was discovered Moore was wanted on suspicion of second-degree murder in Shelby County, Tenn.
Moore was indicted on federal charges of possession of a machine gun, possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. In exchange for Moore's agreement to plead to the machine gun possession and the marijuana possession counts -- which carry maximum prison terms of 10 years and 5 years respectively -- the government agreed to move to dismiss the more serious charge of possession of firearms in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime, which would have exposed Moore to a minimum 30-year sentence if convicted.
Moore's sentencing was postponed from last month after U.S. District Judge Brian Miller raised questions because the sentence Moore agreed to was substantially higher than the 37 to 46 month sentencing range recommended by U.S. sentencing guidelines. Under Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure rule 11(c)(1)(C) -- the rule that governed the agreement between Moore and government prosecutors -- had Miller rejected the plea deal, Moore could have either withdrawn his plea and elected to plead to the indictment without a deal or he could have gone to trial on the three counts against him. Also, the government could have withdrawn the offer and prosecuted Moore on a charge of possession of a machine gun in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
The effect of a plea agreement governed by Rule 11(c)(1)(C) is to shield a defendant from a variance or departure upward from the agreement regardless of the sentencing recommendation calculated following completion of a pre-sentence report. But because Moore had no prior convictions, his guideline sentencing range fell far below the statutory maximums for the two offenses to which he agreed to plead.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lauren Eldridge, in a sentencing memorandum filed Tuesday, noted that at the time of Moore's previous sentencing hearing, his pre-sentence report lacked crucial information regarding pending charges he was facing. According to the memorandum, the pre-sentence report draft used at Moore's previous sentencing hearing had suggested that he had a warrant out of Shelby County, Tenn. for second degree murder. A more recent draft was prepared, the memorandum said, that confirmed the murder charge is, in fact, pending in Shelby County regarding a drug deal gone bad that resulted in the shooting death of the victim.
The memorandum noted that Moore is facing two additional firearms-related charges in Shelby County in addition to the murder charge.
On Wednesday, Miller said the sentencing memorandum filed the previous day had not only laid out the pending charges, it also contained a statement confirming the government's position that a 15-year sentence would be appropriate in light of the pending charges, the seriousness of the current charges, and the fact that Moore's conduct that led to the current charges was committed while he was on bond for state charges.
Moore's attorney, Latrece Gray with the Federal Public Defenders Office in Little Rock, agreed to the 15-year sentence without protest.
"The court has summed up everything that has brought us to this point," Gray said. "Essentially our hands are tied. We can't take the risk of putting on anything that would then allow the judge to consider something less than the agreed 15 years because as the government has indicated and our research has shown, they do have the right to withdraw from the 11(c)(1)(C) agreement, and it is our belief that if we were to go to trial on the possession of a machine gun in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, Mr. Moore would be found guilty and this court would have to impose a 30-year mandatory minimum."
"The government argues in its memorandum that I may not be paying enough attention to the cases that are pending against Mr. Moore," Miller said. "Here's the thing, though. I used to practice over in Memphis ... I tried a lot of cases over there and I'll tell you, you never know what you're going to get over there. It depends on which judge you get, what jury you get ... a lot depends on the victim, who that person is and whether the family is putting pressure on the prosecutor to take the case to trial."
It was that uncertainty, Miller said, that made him want to explore the ramifications of the plea more closely than he had been able to prior to last month's aborted plea hearing.
"I'm going to give the parties the benefit of your plea," Miller told Moore before announcing the sentence.
He ordered Moore to serve 10 years on the machine gun count and 5 years on the drug count with the sentences to be served consecutively for a total of 15 years.
Miller also ordered Moore to serve three years on supervised release after he leaves prison and to pay a $200 mandatory assessment for the two counts.