OAKLAND — Three more men have been sentenced to federal prison for possessing guns on city streets as part of an ongoing federal effort to “disarm” criminals.
Kendell Turner, 39, was given 15 months in federal prison for having two rifles in his car during a January DUI traffic stop. Leo Smith, 49, was sentenced to 34 months after being arrested with an unserialized firearm last March. Jerrad Williams, 41, who possessed a firearm for “protection” outside an Oakland liquor store last November, received a 27-month sentence, court records show.
All three men were charged as part of “Operation Disarm,” an ongoing effort by the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute gun crimes and hopefully reduce gun violence. All three men have prior felony convictions from bar them from having guns. They’re also familiar with life’s hardships, according to court records.
Turner was drinking the day of his arrest because his newborn child had health struggles but was finally given a clean bill. He acknowledged his “ignorance of choice” in a letter to the court, adding, “I want to say with my deepest sympathy that I apologize…I am better than this.” Smith has been addicted to heroin since he was only 16, but “has not lost his humanity on his torturous journey,” his lawyer wrote. Williams witnessed his own father kill a man when he was just 6, and readily admitted to having a gun when police stopped him, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors said in court filings they hope the cases will serve as a wake-up call for all three men. The defendant, charged separately, were also praised for pleading guilty within weeks of being charges.