Jackson Man Sentenced under Project EJECT to 22 Months in Prison for Illegally Possessing a Firearm as a Convicted Felon

Jackson, Miss – Harold Course, 46, of Jackson, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves to 22 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Michelle A. Sutphin, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Course was also ordered to pay a $1,000.00 fine.

On October 19, 2018, officers with the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force arrived at a halfway house in Jackson to serve an arrest warrant on an individual when they observed a man asleep in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck.  Agents identified the man as Harold Course.  Course was not the subject of the arrest warrant, but agents observed, in plain view, a shotgun between Course and the truck’s center console.  Agents determined Course was wanted by Brookhaven Police for robbery and was a convicted felon.  Course had been previously convicted in Hinds County, Mississippi, of attempted business burglary on March 6, 2015.

On February 20, 2019, Course was charged in a federal indictment with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.   He pled guilty before Judge Reeves on April 8, 2019.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bert Carraway.

This case is part of Project EJECT, an initiative by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi under the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN).  EJECT is a holistic, multi-disciplinary approach to fighting and reducing violent crime through prosecution, prevention, re-entry and awareness.  EJECT stands for "Empower Justice Expel Crime Together."  PSN is bringing together all levels of law enforcement and the communities they serve to reduce violent crime and make our neighborhoods safer for everyone.  Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions reinvigorated PSN in 2017 as part of the Department’s renewed focus on targeting violent criminals, directing all U.S. Attorney’s Offices to work in partnership with federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and the local community to develop effective, locally-based strategies to reduce violent crime.