Email
Arthur Harris, 47, of Roswell was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Las Cruces to 298 months, or nearly 25 years, in prison for his May 2011 conviction on being a felon in possession of a firearm, federal prosecutors said in a news release.
The judge determined that Harris was an armed career criminal and thus was subject to an enhanced sentence under the Armed Career Criminal Act, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Harris has had at least four prior convictions for violent felonies before he was arrested in this case, and his lengthy criminal history, which began in 1981, includes convictions for residential and commercial burglaries, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and a prior federal conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm for which he served a 10-year sentence.
“Arthur Harris earned the lengthy sentence imposed on him today,” U.S. Attorney Kenneth Gonzales said Tuesday in the news release. “Harris has been a menace to the people of Chaves County and a major headache for the law enforcement community for more than 30 years.”
Gonzales said that thanks to the cooperative efforts of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, the Roswell Police Department and the 5th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, “Chaves County is safer now that Harris has been removed from the community for almost 25 years.”
12:43pm 5/23/11 — Federal Court Jury Convicts Roswell Man on Firearms Charge
By ABQnews Staff
A Roswell man found guilty by a federal court jury in Albuquerque of a firearm charge faces up to life imprisonment when sentenced, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says.
The agency said in a news release that Arthur Harris, 46, will remain in federal custody pending his sentencing hearing, which was not immediately scheduled following his conviction. Harris has been in custody since his arrest in August of last year.
The news release said the jury on Friday (May 20), after a three-day trial, found Harris guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Harris, as an armed career offender, faces a mandatory minimum 15-year prison term and a maximum of life imprisonment when sentenced, according to the news release.
The charge against Harris stemmed from an incident in Roswell on June 25, 2010. City police officers responded about 3:30 a.m. to a domestic dispute call about a man allegedly assaulting a woman with a firearm at a Roswell residence, the news release said.
The officers stopped Harris who was outside and preparing to leave the residence, and talked to the woman who said Harris had hit here, pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her, according to the news release. The officers found a loaded Beretta .25-caliber pistol, with a cartridge in the chamber, about three feet from where Harris had been apprehended.
Two attorneys who represented Harris on state charges stemming from the June 25, 2010, incident testified during the federal trial on Harris’ behalf, telling the court that the woman during their interviews with her recanted her claim that Harris had a firearm when he assaulted her, the news release said.
The news release said the federal court jury deliberated less than two hours before returning a guilty verdict.
Harris was arrested in the federal case on Aug. 13, 2010, after a criminal complaint was filed on Aug. 5, 2010, charging him as a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, the news release said. He was indicted on the charge on Nov. 18, 2011.
The news release said that according to the indictment, Harris was prohibited from possessing firearms because he previously had been convicted of three felony offenses in state District Court in Chaves County – two burglaries and an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon charge.
