FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 03, 2008
GARY BRAUN SENTENCED IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT
Bill Mercer, United States Attorney for the District of Montana, announced today that during a federal court session in Billings, on January 3, 2008, before U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, GARY BRAUN, a 56-year-old resident of Big Timber, appeared for sentencing. BRAUN was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 27 months
- Special Assessment: $200
- Supervised Release: 3 years
BRAUN was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to possession of a sawed-off shotgun and being the subject of a restraining order in possession of a firearm.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On December 11, 2006, an Order of Protection was entered against BRAUN. The Order prohibited BRAUN from owning, possessing, or purchasing firearms and the Order was to be in effect until December 7, 2007. The Order also explicitly advised BRAUN that he was not to possess a firearm or ammunition.
On March 22, 2007, deputies from the Sweet Grass County Sheriff's Office responded to a call. The caller advised the deputies that she had some firearms belonging to BRAUN that she wanted to turn over to law enforcement because she was concerned what BRAUN might do with the guns if he got them back.
The caller gave the deputies two firearms, one of which was a sawed-off New England Model "Pardner" .410 shotgun. When recovered by law enforcement, the shotgun was obviously "sawed-off" on both ends. It had a barrel length of only 12? inches and an overall length of only about 19 inches. The caller said she had taken the firearms from BRAUN'S residence earlier in the evening as BRAUN did not want deputies to find the guns there.
A witness would have testified that she was with BRAUN when he purchased the .410 shotgun from a seller in Livingston on March 13, 2007. The witness would have also testified that BRAUN modified the shotgun by cutting off its barrel and its stock, some time around March 18-19, 2007. The shotgun had been intact as manufactured at the time BRAUN purchased it.
Furthermore, there were pending felony charges in Montana state district court for Intimidation against BRAUN at the time he purchased the .410 shotgun.
A review of the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record found no firearms registered to BRAUN.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that BRAUN will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, BRAUN does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Ed Zink prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Sweet Grass County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
This conviction is yet another important outcome from Project Safe Neighborhoods, a national priority of the United States Department of Justice. PSN is designed as a partnership between federal and local law enforcement to reduce violent crime and gun-related crime through the vigorous enforcement of the criminal provisions of the federal firearms laws. In Montana, the effort under PSN is called "Catch and No Release."
