OAKLAND — In contrast to his co-defendant brother, who avoided jail time, a Bay Area man was sentenced to 10 months in federal custody for illegally trafficking firearms, a disparity likely explained by his Aug. 16 arrest in connection with a freeway shooting.
Julaan Faison, 24, of San Leandro, was sentenced last week by U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam. The charges stem from allegations that Faison and his brother selling six guns to an undercover federal agent, and authorities say they were in a group of gun dealer collectively responsible for dozens of illegal firearm transactions.
Faison’s brother was sentenced in 2020 to three years probation, and Faison seemed likely to receive a similar sentence, given that he was charged with the same conduct. But then, last August, the California Highway Patrol publicly identified Faison as an attempted murder suspect in a June shooting on Interstate 580 in Oakland, where a car was struck by gunfire but no one was injured.
The CHP said charges would follow Faison’s Aug. 16 arrest, but court records show that he still has not faced criminal charges. Federal prosecutors, however, brought up the arrest in arguing for a 15-month prison term. They also say two guns, 14 pounds of marijuana, and $27,000 in cash were found in Faison’s residence when police came to arrest him.
Faison submitted an apology letter to the court in which he stressed the need for him to get a job and address his substance abuse issues.
“Sitting in Santa Rita for these last few months has given me plenty of time to think about how my actions have affected my family, especially my mother,” he wrote. “I know my mother has more stress and heartache on her plate due to my actions and the actions of my brother…ironically, even though I’m incarcerated, living in a cell, I know that my mother is probably in a worse place than where I am at this moment.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com