Exemption saves man jail time

BANGOR -- A Fairfield man has been granted a reduction on his prison sentence on gun charges in federal court because of an exemption to hunters and outdoorsman.
Instead of serving more than 3 years in a federal prison, Steven Lemieux, 42, of Covell Road, was sentenced last week to 8 months in jail, with about four months already served.
Lemieux was convicted in state court on a charge of domestic assault in 2004. The assault did not involve use of a firearm, but according to federal law, anyone convicted of a crime of domestic violence is prohibited from possessing a firearm.
Lemieux's lawyer Donald Brown of Brewer said a sporting use exception was appropriate because all of his client's firearms were related to sport shooting or target practice.
"It's not rare in Maine to be an issue, but it's used only for people who possess guns for sporting," Brown said. "Even a felon or in a case of domestic violence, the sporting purpose exception can be used to say 'We're going to give you a little bit of a break here.'"
In 2004, Lemieux was convicted of domestic violence.
In 2005, state agents, acting on tips that he still had weapons in his house , searched the place and seized nine guns. All but one of the guns were firearms used for hunting or target shooting. He was sentenced to 77 days in jail.
This February, a federal grand jury in Bangor indicted Lemieux, charging that he lied twice -- once while on state probation -- on federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives transaction record forms, which he filled out trying to buy a .45-caliber pistol from Jim's Gun Shop on Bay Street in Winslow.
The question in federal court was whether Lemieux was entitled to the sporting use reduction in his sentence because he was on state probation when he tried to buy the gun at the Winslow shop. The U.S. Attorney's office said he was not entitled to it.
The judge disagreed.
Lemieux was found guilty of falsifying federal firearm forms in April after a one-day jury trial.
Brown said that under federal sentencing guidelines, Lemieux faced between 32 and 48 months in prison. With the hunter's exception, the guideline calls for a sentence of 0 to 8 months of incarceration.
In his ruling dated last week, U.S District Judge John Woodcock Jr. wrote that the sporting purpose reduction is "curious" since it reduces the prison time on possession of a firearm for lawful sporting purposes for a defendant convicted of illegal possession of a firearm.
In applying the sporting exemption, Woodcock had to consider the number and type of firearms in Lemieux's possession, the amount and type of ammunition, the actual use and location of the guns, his criminal history and to what extent possession of firearms was prohibited.
The judge found that Lemieux was a hunting enthusiast and that there was no history of criminal use of guns.
The federal statute reducing the sentence can not apply to people convicted of drug offenses or crimes of violence or those found to be in possession of illegal short-barreled shotguns.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel Casey declined to comment on the case.