Note the Police office, US Attorney and the Federal Judge statements all complaining about the light sentence for this violent repeat criminal.

Where are the PA state firearm charges for numerous violations for the UFA?

They could run them consecutive after the 10 year federal sentence IF they were really serious about locking up criminals. Notice no one ever mention that little fact, that both the state and federal government can prosecute and criminals can serve time in both systems.

Look at ALL the jail time this repeat violent criminal got sentenced and NEVER served from 1991 and 1994 conviction and paroled in 2001.

Yet PA NEED TOUGHER FIREARM LAWS.... why?


http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/20732839.html

Poor record keeping blamed for three-time felon avoiding life sentence

Poor record keeping by Philadelphia's courts kept a federal judge yesterday from giving a possible life sentence to a gunman accused of trying to kill a city police officer.
Instead, U.S. District Court Judge Anita B. Brody reluctantly concluded she could not impose more than 10 years in prison on defendant Germaine Battis.

Battis, 36, already had three felony convictions when prosecutors say he pulled a gun and tried to shoot Officer Christopher Rommel on a Frankford street on March 22, 2003.

Rommel told Brody that three of his fellow officers had been killed by repeat offenders like Battis.

"People like this, who have been on the streets, they get out of jail, and they do this over and over," he told Brody. "This defendant showed no regard whatsoever for human life."

Brody sentenced Battis to 10 years on federal firearms charges, and said the prison term could have been much longer but Philadelphia "Common Pleas Court messed up" by failing to keep sufficient records of one of the three prior felony convictions at issue.

"For better or for worse," the judge said, "I am now limited to 10 years."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark S. Miller said that Battis could have gotten up to life in prison as an armed career criminal if Battis had been convicted of three violent felonies or serious drug offenses.

Battis had two prior convictions for aggravated assault and one for possession with intent to deliver drugs.

But Assistant Federal Defender Mark Wilson argued that the city court records from the drug case did not clearly show the specific crime of which he had been convicted - and that the offense should not be counted as one of the three necessary for a longer sentence.

Brody called it "irresponsible" that there wasn't an available transcript from the city drug case.

"This was a case in which, frankly, the state must have had a very strong interest. It involved the potential shooting of a police officer, and they didn't preserve enough evidence for me to be able to properly sentence" him, said Brody.

Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Administrative Judge D. Webster Keogh, who handled the Battis drug case, could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Battis' sister, Dionne, asked Brody to show mercy, saying her brother had grown up in the ghetto and gotten involved with the "wrong people." She said he had won academic awards in school and could have gone far in life.

"He's a kind-hearted person," she said.

Miller said that Battis was a dangerous felon.

"There isn't one reason to show one ounce of compassion for Mr. Battis at this point," said Miller, who said he believed the records were clear enough to warrant a longer term. "The streets of Philadelphia . . . don't need to see him again."

In 1991, court records show, Battis was sentenced to seven to 23 months in jail for aggravated assault.
In June 1994, he got two prison sentences - 21/2 to 5 years in the drug case and 10 to 26 years for another aggravated assault.

Battis was paroled in February 2001, Miller said.

And on March 22, 2003, he was charged with attempted murder. The incident occurred when Rommel was responding to a call about a man with a gun at a bar, and he realized he had just driven past someone matching the description of the gunman.

He went up to Battis, who struggled and pulled out a gun, but fortunately, Miller said, Rommel pushed the muzzle away from his head just as Battis fired the gun.

The case was thrown out by a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge, but Miller said that the state Superior Court reversed that ruling. He said the District Attorney's Office was preparing the case for trial.

Rommel, meanwhile, said his brush with Battis was a life-altering event. Every day now, before he leaves for work, he tells his children and his wife that he loves them.

Just in case.