Dale Slaughter
A Sequatchie man was given yet another lengthy prison sentence after he was caught with a gun despite being a convicted felon. Dale Slaughter was sentenced to 84 months after he was seen waving a gun around an informant during a drug sale. When law enforcement searched the home later, they found the gun under his mattress.
Defense attorney Paul Bergmann attempted to give a valid excuse for Slaughter’s ownership of a gun. He said his client was a “simple country man” who owned chickens, and that sometimes bandits or wild animals would attempt to harm his beloved animals. He said the gun was just used to ward off those threats.
Federal Judge Travis McDonough was skeptical of this argument. He wondered why the gun was underneath a mattress, saying that “if I wanted to protect my chickens, I’d have it by the back door closer to the chickens. Not by or under the bed.”
The federal judge also said he was “troubled” by the fact that the gun was present during the sale of drugs. As he later stated, Slaughter has a long criminal record with seven DUI’s, a charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, four drug-related offenses, and a previous felon in possession of a firearm charge that landed him in prison for years.
“Quite frankly, a lengthy sentence is just, considering your lengthy criminal history,” said Judge McDonough.
Slaughter had very little to say, while just asking for “mercy” from the judge. Attorney Bergmann cited his client’s long list of health issues, ranging from MRSA, Scoliosis, and mental issues. The attorney asked that his client go to a medical facility when sentenced, as Slaughter was described as being in “considerable pain most of the time.”
Slaughter was then sentenced to the 84 months in prison for possession of a firearm while being a convicted felon, and then three more years of probation afterward. Judge McDonough agreed to send Slaughter to a medical facility.
“Do you want to die in prison?” the judge asked the 54-year-old man. “You’re too old for this. You don’t have enough time on this earth to be acting this way.”