After pleading guilty to illegally possessing ammunition as a convicted felon, Jermaine Marquize Williams, 35, of Saint Paul, has been sentenced to 82 months in prison. This includes 77 months for the criminal case and an additional six months for violating the terms of his federal supervised release. The announcement was made by Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.
“While the people of St. Paul were sleeping in their homes, Williams took an automatic firearm and shot it into the neighborhood,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson. “This conduct was extraordinarily dangerous, utterly brazen, and well-deserving of federal time.”
Court documents reveal that in August 2024, Williams fired multiple rounds from a fully automatic firearm in a densely populated Saint Paul neighborhood outside a bar just before midnight. Video surveillance showed Williams firing the machine gun out of his vehicle's driver’s side door before fleeing the scene. Police later recovered multiple discharged casings from the area.
Williams has a prior federal conviction from 2019 for illegally possessing a firearm as a felon, which resulted in a 65-month imprisonment sentence. At the time of this latest offense, he had been on federal supervised release for only six months.
The sentencing took place on May 28, 2025, in U.S. District Court before Judge Paul A. Magnuson.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and the St. Paul Police Department with Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Bejar prosecuting.
