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http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/05/01/63828460.shtml?Element_ID=63828460
Friday, 01/07/05
Judge won't imprison 84-year-old
AP
Henry Bostic, one of 23 aging gun dealers authorities call ''the geriatrics,'' leaves federal court in Knoxville after facing charges of illegally selling firearms at a flea market. A judge refused to jail Bostic, 84.
Associated Press
He says gun dealer too frail to serve and cites man's life of obeying law
KNOXVILLE — A federal judge refused to imprison an elderly flea-market gun dealer, citing his failing health and lifelong history of abiding by the law.
''They say, 'I don't care if he's 84 and about dead,' '' Senior U.S. District Judge James Jarvis said Wednesday of prosecutors who have been trying for two years to put Henry A. Bostic behind bars.
Bostic was one of 23 gun dealers, dubbed ''the geriatrics'' by law enforcers, who were rounded up between 2000 and 2002 for illegally selling firearms, including dozens of cheap handguns, at flea markets, gun shops and homes in Tennessee.
While their lawyers claimed they were selling guns more as a social pastime than an illegal endeavor, the volume of firearms sold was huge. Authorities bought more than 600 guns from these defendants during the two-year period and confiscated 1,000 more at their homes and businesses.
''For 84 years, he's been a good citizen,'' Jarvis said of Bostic. ''That don't make any difference. They want him sent on'' to prison. ''They want to make an example of this man. They insist on it. They spent a lot of money and a lot of time appealing this. I don't think it's right.''
Defying both federal sentencing guidelines and an appeals court mandate, Jarvis said, ''I'm the one who's got to live with what I do to this man. ... We've got to do our best to do justice.''
Jarvis ordered Bostic held under house arrest and electronically monitored for a year — with the monitoring to begin as soon as the U.S. Probation Office finds the spare devices to do it.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jennings said yesterday that no decision had been made on whether to appeal.
The 6th U.S. Circuit court of Appeals earlier instructed Jarvis either to put Bostic and another defendant, Parke Goins, 69, behind bars or rule them so frail and ''extraordinary'' that the federal prison system could not care for them. Goins' sentencing is pending.
Tottering on his cane, Bostic appeared disoriented in court. His medical infirmities include diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cataracts, anemia and emphysema.
Still, Jennings argued that Bostic didn't deserve probation. ''His (sentencing) guideline range is what it is, but that's because of (Bostic's) own conduct,'' Jennings said. ''I'm here because the law is what it is, and I took an oath to follow it.''
According to records, Bostic sold federal undercover officers a total of 24 pistols deemed ''Saturday night specials'' on 20 occasions before his arrest in 2002. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives even warned Bostic in a letter in 2001 that his gun dealing was illegal. But in an encounter captured on audiotape, Bostic scoffed at the warning and continued hawking weapons.
Many defendants faced up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Nine out of the 23 drew prison terms, ranging from five to 41 months. The rest received probation.
Friday, 01/07/05
Judge won't imprison 84-year-old
AP
Henry Bostic, one of 23 aging gun dealers authorities call ''the geriatrics,'' leaves federal court in Knoxville after facing charges of illegally selling firearms at a flea market. A judge refused to jail Bostic, 84.
Associated Press
He says gun dealer too frail to serve and cites man's life of obeying law
KNOXVILLE — A federal judge refused to imprison an elderly flea-market gun dealer, citing his failing health and lifelong history of abiding by the law.
''They say, 'I don't care if he's 84 and about dead,' '' Senior U.S. District Judge James Jarvis said Wednesday of prosecutors who have been trying for two years to put Henry A. Bostic behind bars.
Bostic was one of 23 gun dealers, dubbed ''the geriatrics'' by law enforcers, who were rounded up between 2000 and 2002 for illegally selling firearms, including dozens of cheap handguns, at flea markets, gun shops and homes in Tennessee.
While their lawyers claimed they were selling guns more as a social pastime than an illegal endeavor, the volume of firearms sold was huge. Authorities bought more than 600 guns from these defendants during the two-year period and confiscated 1,000 more at their homes and businesses.
''For 84 years, he's been a good citizen,'' Jarvis said of Bostic. ''That don't make any difference. They want him sent on'' to prison. ''They want to make an example of this man. They insist on it. They spent a lot of money and a lot of time appealing this. I don't think it's right.''
Defying both federal sentencing guidelines and an appeals court mandate, Jarvis said, ''I'm the one who's got to live with what I do to this man. ... We've got to do our best to do justice.''
Jarvis ordered Bostic held under house arrest and electronically monitored for a year — with the monitoring to begin as soon as the U.S. Probation Office finds the spare devices to do it.
Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jennings said yesterday that no decision had been made on whether to appeal.
The 6th U.S. Circuit court of Appeals earlier instructed Jarvis either to put Bostic and another defendant, Parke Goins, 69, behind bars or rule them so frail and ''extraordinary'' that the federal prison system could not care for them. Goins' sentencing is pending.
Tottering on his cane, Bostic appeared disoriented in court. His medical infirmities include diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cataracts, anemia and emphysema.
Still, Jennings argued that Bostic didn't deserve probation. ''His (sentencing) guideline range is what it is, but that's because of (Bostic's) own conduct,'' Jennings said. ''I'm here because the law is what it is, and I took an oath to follow it.''
According to records, Bostic sold federal undercover officers a total of 24 pistols deemed ''Saturday night specials'' on 20 occasions before his arrest in 2002. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives even warned Bostic in a letter in 2001 that his gun dealing was illegal. But in an encounter captured on audiotape, Bostic scoffed at the warning and continued hawking weapons.
Many defendants faced up to five years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Nine out of the 23 drew prison terms, ranging from five to 41 months. The rest received probation.
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