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FIRM CLIENT SENTENCED FAR BELOW FEDERAL SENTENCING GUIDELINES IN MAJOR FEDERAL RACKETEERING TRIAL
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After extensive arguments by Roger C. Wilson in federal court in Atlanta, an Army veteran and former police officer client of Roger's was sentenced to far below the life-imprisonment sentence recommended under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines. Instead of that life sentence, Vancito Gumbs was sentenced to 15 years with full credit for the several nearly five years he had been incarcerated pending trial and sentencing. In contrast, the other four defendants also convicted in the trial were sentenced to decades of imprisonment, one to life imprisonment plus ten years.
Mr. Gumbs, a former DeKalb County Police Officer and a US Army veteran who grew up in DeKalb County and served in the Army in the Middle East as a teenager, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy along with four co-defendants in a lengthy, complex, multi-defendant jury trial in Atlanta Federal Court that received widespread national media coverage. Multiple murders were involved in the case.
Roger argued forcefully during trial and at sentencing that Mr. Gumbs had no involvement in or knowledge of any of those murders, and that there was no basis even to convict him for the racketeering conspiracy. Roger contested various aspects of the trial, including, critically, the instructions and verdict forms given to the jury based on which the jury rendered its guilty verdicts. Roger is vigorusly appealing Mr. Gumbs's conviction and sentence in the Eleventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals, which appeal is already underway.
Roger was quoted as follows in some of the media coverage:
Wilson’s argument was that Gumbs took no part in any murder, while other defendants in the sprawling case were convicted of direct roles in murders. It would be an “expansion of the law” to rule that anyone involved in a criminal enterprise that was tied to murders should be responsible for the murders”, he argued.
--Atlanta Journal Constitution
“I think the verdict is contrary to the facts in this case,” Wilson said on Monday, adding that the law, as charged in the case, was overly broad. The jury “merely had to find that a defendant was affiliated in some way” with the criminal organization, rather than finding Gumbs committed any crime himself or attempted to commit any crime, Wilson said.
“There was no allegation that he committed any substantive crime or attempted to, or solicited anyone,” Wilson said. “Because he was affiliated with someone the government argued was in the Gangster Disciples, it’s essentially guilt by association.”
--The Daily Beast
Selected Media Coverage:
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/ex-dekalb-police-officer-sentenced-to-prison-in-gangster-disciples-case/EUTMSJHZERF7FNVXXHL5TEEQVI/
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/former-georgia-police-officer-gangster-disciples-member-receives-15-year-prison-sentence/5DDFHDL3S5C3JOGMZAEXIE26UQ/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vancito-gumbs-veteran-turned-cop-turned-gang-hitman-convicted-for-conspiracy
https://www.cbs46.com/news/former-metro-atlanta-cop-sentenced-to-15-years-after-racketeering-conviction/article_fdaf1c72-28d6-11eb-b676-87f18ae3d497.html
Mr. Gumbs, a former DeKalb County Police Officer and a US Army veteran who grew up in DeKalb County and served in the Army in the Middle East as a teenager, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy along with four co-defendants in a lengthy, complex, multi-defendant jury trial in Atlanta Federal Court that received widespread national media coverage. Multiple murders were involved in the case.
Roger argued forcefully during trial and at sentencing that Mr. Gumbs had no involvement in or knowledge of any of those murders, and that there was no basis even to convict him for the racketeering conspiracy. Roger contested various aspects of the trial, including, critically, the instructions and verdict forms given to the jury based on which the jury rendered its guilty verdicts. Roger is vigorusly appealing Mr. Gumbs's conviction and sentence in the Eleventh Circuit United States Court of Appeals, which appeal is already underway.
Roger was quoted as follows in some of the media coverage:
Wilson’s argument was that Gumbs took no part in any murder, while other defendants in the sprawling case were convicted of direct roles in murders. It would be an “expansion of the law” to rule that anyone involved in a criminal enterprise that was tied to murders should be responsible for the murders”, he argued.
--Atlanta Journal Constitution
“I think the verdict is contrary to the facts in this case,” Wilson said on Monday, adding that the law, as charged in the case, was overly broad. The jury “merely had to find that a defendant was affiliated in some way” with the criminal organization, rather than finding Gumbs committed any crime himself or attempted to commit any crime, Wilson said.
“There was no allegation that he committed any substantive crime or attempted to, or solicited anyone,” Wilson said. “Because he was affiliated with someone the government argued was in the Gangster Disciples, it’s essentially guilt by association.”
--The Daily Beast
Selected Media Coverage:
https://www.ajc.com/news/crime/ex-dekalb-police-officer-sentenced-to-prison-in-gangster-disciples-case/EUTMSJHZERF7FNVXXHL5TEEQVI/
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/trending/former-georgia-police-officer-gangster-disciples-member-receives-15-year-prison-sentence/5DDFHDL3S5C3JOGMZAEXIE26UQ/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vancito-gumbs-veteran-turned-cop-turned-gang-hitman-convicted-for-conspiracy
https://www.cbs46.com/news/former-metro-atlanta-cop-sentenced-to-15-years-after-racketeering-conviction/article_fdaf1c72-28d6-11eb-b676-87f18ae3d497.html