No jail time for convicted Duluth, MN, felon who surrendered gun

Steven Cooper, 32, was sentenced Monday in St. Louis County District Court to five years of supervised probation. Judge Dale Harris opted not to follow the minimum sentencing guidelines, which require jail time.

Cooper was charged with felony possession of a firearm by the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office in July 2022 after telling his probation officer that he found, among other things, a handgun and some ammunition in a vehicle abandoned by his brother, who had recently dead. . Cooper had wrapped the gun in a sweatshirt and kept it in a safe place in his apartment building before calling the probation officer, who notified police.

After Cooper was charged, both the Duluth NAACP and the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus called on the county to drop the charges. Duluth NAACP President Classie Dudley said at the time that the indictment sent the message that unregistered guns and guns owned by people who shouldn’t have them shouldn’t be turned in.

At a 2023 NAACP news conference, Cooper said he was “honest from the beginning. If I do the right thing, I will be punished.”

Cooper pleaded guilty last fall in hopes of seeking probation. He later withdrew it because lawyers said they had learned his previous conviction would not allow for such a sentence. Cooper shot two gas station attendants in 2006 when he was 15 and was convicted of attempted murder. He was released on parole after serving 13.5 years.

On Monday, Harris cited case law that he said allowed a downward departure from sentencing guidelines, and Cooper reiterated his guilty plea.

“I know this has been a long and winding road, but I do believe this is a fair and just outcome,” Harris told Cooper.