MOTORIST WHO TRIED TO DITCH GUN GETS FIVE YEARS Mar. 6, 2008 A 24-year-old Milton man arrested on gun charges last summer was convicted of all charges yesterday and will serve five years in jail to be followed by another five years of probation, with the possibility of two more years behind bars, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley announced. Following a two-day trial in the Firearms Priority Disposition Sessions – commonly known as Gun Court – a district court jury found JARON O’BANNON (D.O.B. 12/31/82) guilty of carrying a firearm without a license, unlawful possession of ammunition, and carrying a loaded firearm without a license. Jurors convicted O’Bannon seven months after a tip led Boston Police to arrest him for speeding through Mattapan with a gun he later passed off to an accomplice. Boston Municipal Court Judge Robert McKenna sentenced O’Bannon to serve two back-to-back 2½ year terms in the South Bay House of Correction for the gun offenses. McKenna also sentenced O’Bannon to an additional two-year term that he suspended for a probationary five-year period beginning upon his release from jail. O’Bannon must refrain from drugs and alcohol and submit to random urinalysis tests during that time; if he does not, or if he re-offends in any way, he could be ordered back to jail. “It’s a harsh sentence that reflects a serious offense,” Conley said. “These jurors stepped up for their communities, and Judge McKenna’s decision sends a message that gun offenses are serious business in Boston and Suffolk County.” Earlier this week, Assistant District Attorney Abigail Holland presented evidence and testimony showing that at, about 7 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2007, Boston Police officers on patrol were informed that that a man in a white T-shirt driving a brown four-door Chevrolet vehicle in the area of Ridlon and Greenfield roads in Mattapan was seen brandishing a gun. Testimony showed that, shortly after receiving this report, an officer watched a brown 1986 Chevy Caprice drive into a gas station near Ridlon Road and Cummins Highway and idle for a period of time before pulling out and driving up and down the same few streets. A police cruiser followed the vehicle at a distance and noticed that the driver of the vehicle accelerated rapidly onto Kennebec Street before turning on Mariposa Street and taking a right on Hebron Street. Taking another route, police officers turned onto a street that intersects with Hebron through an access road. Upon arriving at 202 Hebron St., police officers saw O’Bannon’s Caprice, along with JERRELL GRAVES, 19 (D.O.B. 8/12/87) kneeling by a nearby fence with a .38 Smith & Wesson revolver wrapped in a yellow kitchen towel. Evidence and testimony proved that O’Bannon pulled over at Hebron Street and handed the firearm to Graves to hide it. When officers arrived and observed Graves with the bundle, they ordered him to the ground; instead, he dove to the ground close enough to a sewer drain that he was able to toss the handgun into it. O’Bannon was ordered out of the vehicle and taken into custody. An employee for the Boston Water and Sewer Commission was successfully able to retrieve the firearm from the sewer drain, which was then submitted into evidence. Graves pleaded guilty to all charges on Feb. 7 and was sentenced to serve 18 months in the House of Correction to be followed by two years of probation upon his release. As part of the terms of his probation, he must submit to random urinalysis tests and obtain a GED certificate. O’Bannon was represented by attorney Hodges Brown. Return to the Press Releases page.