St. Louis, MO - After a two-day trial, a federal jury returned a guilty verdict for the United States finding Philandias Samuel Calvin guilty of assaulting federal law enforcement officers as they attempted to arrest him pursuant to two valid arrest warrants.
According to evidence at trial, on December 6, 2017, Calvin was present inside the United States Probation Office located in the Thomas F. Eagleton federal courthouse. Days earlier, two arrest warrants had been issued as a result of Calvin’s continued violations of his federal supervised release. (Calvin had previously been convicted of at least two separate federal crimes and, as part of his sentence following incarceration, Calvin was placed on federal supervised release.)
As two United States Probation Officers and three Deputy United States Marshals informed Calvin of his arrest warrants, Calvin became verbally combative. Calvin then punched one Deputy United States Marshal in the face. Calvin continued to resist arrest as the federal officials attempted to arrest him, injuring two other federal officials.
U. S. Attorney Jeff Jensen applauded the courage, efforts and support of the United States Marshal Service and United States Probation Office that directly resulted in this verdict, “The evidence showed these federal officers and professionals were injured in the course of their duties which included trying to help the Defendant through his court supervision. I am pleased the jury agreed and vindicated their efforts."
Calvin, 33, St. Louis, MO, was indicted on Jan. 10, 2018 charging him with one felony count of assaulting a federal official engaged in their duties.
He faces up to eight years of imprisonment for the conviction, and a potential fine of $250,000. In determining the actual sentence, a Judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provides recommended sentencing ranges.
Sentencing has been set for Dec. 20, 2018 before the Honorable Catherine D. Perry.
The case was investigated by the United States Marshal Service with the assistance of the United States Probation Office.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
