Man who beat robbery case gets 7 years for striking police car
A Las Vegas man, who walked free on a string of armed robbery charges before being convicted of the same crime, was ordered to serve more than seven years in federal prison for backing his BMW into a police car when authorities arrested him on a probation violation.
Brian Wright, aka “Calione,” 34, was found guilty in August of assault on a federal officer with a dangerous weapon, assault on a federal officer with intent to commit another felony and assault on a federal officer.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer A. Dorsey sentenced Wright to 92 months in prison in that case for his “flagrant disrespect for the law,” according to a Department of Justice release Tuesday.
Wright had been on federal supervised release in connection with a separate conviction of felon in possession of a firearm in February 2017, when FBI agents arrested him.
Wright tried to flee his home and backed his car into an officer’s vehicle, prosecutors said.
Late last year, Wright was convicted of orchestrating a pair of jewelry store heists just months after walking away from similar robbery charges because of a legal blunder by federal prosecutors.
A jury convicted Wright of two counts each of using a firearm during a crime of violence, interfering with commerce by robbery and conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery.
Federal prosecutors argued that Wright had conspired with several others, who later testified against him, to commit two armed jewelry store robberies in January 2017.
Wright, who acted as his own attorney through the weeklong trial, lowered his head after the verdict was read. He faces another 30 years behind bars in that case at a sentencing slated for later this month.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find @randompoker on Twitter.
