Vernon Gayle Grey 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 Missoula, on October 22, 2009, before U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy, VERNON GAYLE GREY, a 50-year-old resident of East Helena, appeared for sentencing. GREY was sentenced to a term of:
- Prison: 46 months, concurrent with a state case
- Special Assessment: $100
- Forfeiture: guns and ammunition
- Supervised Release: 3 years
GREY was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to being a felon-in-possession of ammunition.
In an Offer of Proof filed by the United States, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
GREY is a convicted felon on state supervision for felony DUI and thereby prohibited from possession of firearms or ammunition.
On May 27, 2008, Montana Probation and Parole officers received a complaint that GREY possessed firearms at his residence. GREY did not appear for an appointment with his probation officer, so officers went to GREY'S residence to investigate the complaint and his no show. The officers, with the assistance of Lewis and Clark County deputies, located over one thousand rounds of ammunition in GREY'S bedroom. The ammunition recovered included 50 rounds of .32 caliber ammunition, 130 rounds of 12 gauge shotgun ammunition, 864 rounds of .22 caliber ammunition, and 1,590 rounds of 9mm ammunition.
Because there is no parole in the federal system, the "truth in sentencing" guidelines mandate that GREY will likely serve all of the time imposed by the court. In the federal system, GREY does have the opportunity to earn a sentence reduction for "good behavior." However, this reduction will not exceed 15% of the overall sentence.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulette L. Stewart prosecuted the case for the United States.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Montana Probation and Parole, the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office 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."
