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NEW ORLEANS, LA – United States District Judge Sarah S. Vance sentenced ASHONTI HALL, 31, of New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 5, 2021 to 60 months in the Bureau of Prisons for possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 924(c), announced U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans.

In October 2019, HALL was indicted for possessing heroin, cocaine base, cocaine, and marijuana with the intent to distribute, being a felon in possession of a firearm, and possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Court documents show that HALL admitted that he fled from New Orleans Police Department Officers who were investigating HALL for a shooting that occurred the previous day.  The police caught HALL and found him with a backpack that contained several different types of drugs, scales, cash, and a loaded gun.

District Judge Vance sentenced HALL to the mandatory minimum term of 5 years imprisonment to be followed by three years of supervised release.  She also ordered that he pay a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.

U. S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the New Orleans Police Department, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Drug Enforcement Administration in investigating this matter. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney David Haller.