Jury Convicts Hoover Five-Deuce Crip for Newark Assault of FBI Special Agent
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 30, 2011 |
TRENTON, NJ—A member of the Hoover-Five Deuce Crips criminal street gang was convicted today in Trenton federal court of offenses related to his involvement in a 2010 assault on an FBI special agent and task force officer, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.
The jury returned a guilty verdict against Durrell Smith, 26, following a two-day trial before U.S. District Judge Mary L. Cooper. Smith was convicted of all three counts charged in the second superseding indictment on which he was tried: forcibly assaulting a federal officer; brandishing a firearm in furtherance of that forcible assault; and being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:
On September 1, 2010, an FBI special agent, an FBI task force officer, and two Newark police officers had been engaged in narcotics surveillance in an undercover FBI vehicle parked on the corner of Parkhurst and Brunswick in Newark, N.J. Shortly after they set up surveillance, Smith brandished a Hi-Point .380 caliber pistol with an obliterated serial number.
At sentencing, Smith faces a maximum potential penalty of 20 years in prison on the forcible assault charge; a minimum potential penalty of seven years in prison and a maximum potential penalty of life in prison for the use of a firearm in furtherance of the forcible assault—which must be consecutive to any forcible assault prison term; and a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison for the felon in possession charge. Each count also carries a maximum $250,000 fine. Sentencing is currently scheduled for September 28, 2011.
U.S. Attorney Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Michael B. Ward in Newark, for the investigation leading to today’s verdict.
The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Rodney Villazor and Ronnell Wilson of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
Defense counsel: Kevin Carlucci Esq., Newark, N.J.