A man who threatened to kill a Cedar Rapids woman was sentenced Sept. 13, 2017, to ten years in federal prison.
Darrell Junior Sims, age 29, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after an April 21, 2017 jury verdict finding him guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The evidence at trial showed that during a phone call on Jan. 27, 2017, Sims threatened to kill a female companion. When the woman asked what he planned to kill her with, Sims told her to look under her mattress. The woman looked under the mattress and found a loaded revolver and a loaded pistol. The woman contacted the United States Marshals Service, and two Deputy Marshals arrived and collected the firearms. While the deputies were collecting the firearms, Sims called the woman again. A deputy recorded the conversations, during which Sims accused the woman of allowing his guns to be stolen.
Sims was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by Chief United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. At the sentencing hearing, the judge found Sims obstructed justice during the case by sending a letter from jail to the woman’s father before trial. In the letter, Sims offered to compensate the woman’s father if the woman did not show up for trial. Sims was sentenced to the maximum sentence of imprisonment, 120 months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed. He must also serve a 2-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Sims is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was investigated by the United States Marshals Service and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Chatham.
Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
The case file number is 17-CR-5-LTS.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
