A 67-year-old Oklahoma man has been sentenced to federal prison for the assault and shooting of a police officer who responded to a domestic disturbance call in Oklahoma City.
Joel Keenan Lewis, 67, was found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
According to public records, on January 23, 2021, an officer with the Oklahoma City Police Department responded to Lewis’s home on a domestic call.
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Moments after the officer arrived, Lewis exited the home, pointed a pistol directly at the officer’s chest, and fired it at point-blank range at the officer.
The officer was hit in both the chest and hand. The officer sustained minor injuries, in large part due to the safety armor beneath his uniform.
On August 1, 2023, a federal grand jury charged Lewis—who had a long history of marijuana use—with being a drug user in possession of a firearm. On October 23, 2023, Lewis pleaded guilty and admitted to using marijuana in January of 2021, despite not having a medical marijuana card, and to possessing firearms during this same time.
At the sentencing hearing on July 8, 2024, U.S. District Judge Stephen P. Friot sentenced Lewis to serve the statutory maximum of 120 months in confinement, with credit for time served in a related conviction for shooting with intent to kill in Oklahoma County District Court case CF-2021-401. Judge Friot also ordered Lewis to serve three years of supervised release upon his release from federal prison.
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In announcing the sentence, Judge Friot noted the dangerous combination of chronic drug abuse and firearms and the risk that combination poses to the community.
This case results from an investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Oklahoma City Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jacquelyn M. Hutzell and David McCrary prosecuted the case.
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