FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
BRADFORD HALVORSEN 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 9, 2008, before Senior U.S. District Judge Jack D. Shanstrom, BRADFORD HALVORSEN, a 25-year-old resident of Billings, appeared for sentencing. HALVORSEN was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 30 months, consecutive to another sentence
- Special Assessment: $100
- Supervised Release: 3 years
HALVORSEN was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to being a felon-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 March 28, 2001, HALVORSEN was sentenced for felony theft in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court of Montana. Following violations of his probation, HALVORSEN was sent to Montanan State Prison and eventually was discharged to probation again in 2005.
While on supervision in June of 2006, HALVORSEN failed to check in with his probation officer and a home visit was attempted. On June 6, 2006, officers with Probation and Parole went to HALVORSEN'S residence at to look for him. After several attempts to get someone to answer the door, a women answered the door. She provided a suspicious explanation for the delay in answering the door and was ambiguous about whether HALVORSEN was present. The two officers then entered the residence through different entrances and one of the officers eventually found HALVORSEN hiding in a closet. The officer ordered HALVORSEN at gunpoint to go to the floor. HALVORSEN did not. When the second officer arrived as cover, the first officer holstered his weapon and directed HALVORSEN to the ground. Once the residence was secured, the officers searched and located numerous items of drug paraphernalia.
In addition, one of the officers observed a t-shirt in the fireplace. He grabbed the t-shirt and located a .357 revolver wrapped inside. The firearm was identified as an FIE Arminius HW 357, .357 caliber revolver.
On June 30, 2006, during a probation revocation hearing, HALVORSEN admitted to having been in possession of the firearm.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that HALVORSEN will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, HALVORSEN 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 Montana Probation and Parole 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."
