CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Deshawn Danzler, 28, has received two separate prison sentences from two federal judges for possessing a firearm and a switch device — while he was on supervised release from a federal contempt of court conviction.
Federal prosecutors said Danzler's contempt of court charge followed a 2015 shooting in which Danzler was shot in the head, wrist and thigh. Danzler’s neighbor was killed in the shooting.
Although Danzler could identify the shooter, he chose not to cooperate with the police investigation, prosecutors said.
Over five years after the shooting, according to the Tribune, Danzler was granted supervised release in 2021 after he promised that he was ready to “break the cycle” of gun violence.
In August 2021 — less than six months after his release — Danzler was stopped by Chicago police officers while driving in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood.
Prosecutors said Danzler had a handgun hidden near his groin and attempted to flee the officers. After a struggle, Chicago police said they recovered the pistol, an extended magazine and a switch, which turned the gun into a fully automatic weapon.
Danzler pleaded guilty to the firearms charge in October 2022, for which he received a 62-month sentence in February 2023.
On April 6, Danzler appeared in court for his supervised release violation. The presiding judge was U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman, the same person who granted Danzler’s supervised release back in 2021. Guzman sentenced Danzler to an additional 37 months in prison.
“Although he was a victim in the 2015 shooting, that is no longer a basis for lenience,” argued Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles Mulaney in the government’s sentencing memo. “By carrying a machine gun on supervised release, and resisting the officers’ efforts to recover it safely, [the] defendant demonstrated that he is a danger to the community.”
Mulaney added that Danzler “squandered the last chance” that Guzman gave him.
Danzler’s two sentences combine for a total of eight years and three months of imprisonment, federal prosecutors wrote.
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