A Federal Court jury, after deliberating for four and a half hours on Wednesday, found Julius Sammons not guilty of being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition and not guilty of being a felon in possession of body armor.
On April 19, 2007, after receiving an anonymous complaint, Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department officers searched Curtis McDaniel’s residence at 4702 Ranger Lane. Julius Sammons, his nephew, was inside the house at the time of the search.
Officers found 45 guns throughout the basement, bedrooms and dining room, including a loaded AK-47 leaning up in the corner of one of the bedrooms.
The defense at trial was that Sammons was helping his grandfather, Nathaniel McDaniel, probate the estate of his uncle, who had died two months earlier.
The uncle had collected the 45 guns over some 40 years throughout the United States, defense attorneys Bryan Hoss and Lee Davis said.
Attorney Hoss said, "I commend the jurors for their hard work. They truly listened to both sides, deliberated for a long time, and, fortunately, reached the right decision.”
The 30-year-old Sammons, who had been in custody since January, was released following the acquittal on all counts.