Freddie Grant Resentenced to 10 Years in Prison on Federal Ammunition Charge

Columbia, South Carolina --- United States Attorney Sherri A. Lydon announced today that Freddie Grant, age 59, of Elgin, was resentenced to the statutory maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison after his conviction for being a felon in possession of ammunition.

Grant was back before the federal district court for resentencing after a change in the law affected his earlier classification as an armed career criminal. Grant, who was convicted following a federal trial in January 2013, was originally deemed an armed career criminal subject to a statutory mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years. He was sentenced to 212 months in prison with 5 years of supervision to follow. That conviction and sentence were upheld in 2014 by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

In 2016, Grant filed a habeas petition challenging his armed career criminal status. He argued that, based on a change in law, his 1980 military kidnapping court-martial could not subject him to an enhanced federal sentence. The district court agreed based upon an August 2019 Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals decision and vacated Grant’s sentence. Grant no longer has the requisite three predicate convictions to be classified as an armed career criminal and is now subject to a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years.

Grant’s new advisory sentencing guidelines range was 27 to 33 months in prison. The Government moved for an upward variance from the guidelines range, noting that Grant’s extensive criminal history was underrepresented in the guidelines calculation, and asked the court to impose the statutory maximum 10 years in prison and 3 years of supervision to follow. Grant has prior convictions for assault by inflicting grievous bodily harm, resisting apprehension, assault upon an officer, kidnapping, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, possession of cocaine, carrying concealed weapon, resisting arrest, shoplifting, driving under suspension, and criminal domestic violence.

Senior United States District Judge Cameron M. Currie, of Columbia, granted the Government’s motion and sentenced Grant to 10 years’ imprisonment with 3 years of federal supervision to follow. There is no parole in the federal system.

Grant will be returned to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to serve the remainder of his 10-year federal sentence. After Grant completes his federal sentence, he will be transferred to a state facility to serve the remainder of his 30-year state sentence for the kidnapping and murder of 15-year-old Gabrielle Swainson. After that state sentence is completed, he will be on federal supervision for 3 years.

Evidence presented during the January 2013 federal trial established that on August 21, 2012, investigators with the Richland County Sheriffs Department executed a search warrant at Grant’s home in Elgin. During the search, investigators located a box of 12 gauge shotgun shells on a table in the living room area and a box of .38 caliber ammunition in a nightstand in a bedroom. Federal law prohibits Grant from possessing firearms and ammunition because of his prior felony convictions. Investigators seized the ammunition and notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which arrested Grant on the federal charge of being a felon in possession of ammunition.

During his original federal sentencing hearing in April 2013, the court found that Grant obstructed justice during his federal trial by suborning perjury by his then 27-year-old daughter Dominique Grant.

The case was investigated by Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. It was prosecuted as part of the joint federal, state, and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), the centerpiece of the Department of Justice’s violent crime reduction efforts.  PSN is an evidence-based program proven to be effective at reducing violent crime. Through PSN, a broad spectrum of stakeholders work together to identify the most pressing violent crime problems in the community and develop comprehensive solutions to address them. As part of this strategy, PSN focuses enforcement efforts on the most violent offenders and partners with locally based prevention and reentry programs for lasting reductions in crime.

Assistant United States Attorney Stacey D. Haynes of the Columbia office prosecuted the case.