Faces at Least 15 Years in Prison
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Kansas City, Mo., man was convicted in federal court today of illegally possessing a firearm.
Wesley Wyatt, 59, of Kansas City, was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Evidence introduced during the trial indicated that Wyatt was in possession of a Davis Industries.38-caliber two-shot derringer pistol on Sept. 18, 2013.
Kansas City police officers responded to a domestic violence call at Wyatt’s apartment on Sept. 18, 2013. The victim of the assault, Wyatt’s girlfriend, told officers that she and Wyatt were arguing when he pulled out a gun, pointed it at her, and said “If you don’t get out of my house I will kill you!" Wyatt was not in the residence when officers arrived, but returned a short time later and was arrested for domestic assault. A firearm was not located at that time.
While Wyatt was being held in the Kansas City detention unit, he called another person to go retrieve his gun from the mailbox. That person, instead, called Wyatt’s girlfriend, who then called the police to come retrieve the loaded gun.
Under federal law, it is illegal for anyone who has been convicted of a felony to be in possession of any firearm or ammunition. Wyatt has two prior felony convictions for robbery, two prior felony convictions for distributing a controlled substance and prior felony convictions for trafficking in a controlled substance and for possessing a controlled substance.
Following the presentation of evidence, the jury in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo., deliberated for about 22 minutes before returning the guilty verdict to U.S. District Judge Gary A. Fenner, ending a trial that began Monday, Aug. 17, 2015.
Under federal statutes, Wyatt is subject to being sentenced as an armed career offender to a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in federal prison without parole, up to a sentence of life in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin G. Davids and Jeffrey Q. McCarther. It was investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
