PORTLAND — Shortly before sentencing him to more than two years in federal prison, a judge told an Auburn man Wednesday, “You need to change your life.”
John Scott Edwards Androscoggin County Jail
U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock ordered John Scott Edwards, 50, to spend 27 months behind bars, after which he’ll be on supervised release for three years.
Edwards pleaded guilty in October to being a felon with a firearm, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Woodcock gave Edwards the lowest sentence allowed by federal sentencing guidelines, saying, “I think you need to figure out what it is that’s going on inside your head.”
The judge told Edwards: “You need to stop drinking. You just have to.”
Prosecutors said Androscoggin County Sheriff’s Sgt. Brian Smith was dispatched to the area of Sullivan Road in Greene on Nov. 14, 2020, for a report of a man walking around outside a home shooting a gun.
When Smith arrived, he saw a man who was later identified as Edwards near a home holding what appeared to be a rifle. He watched as Edwards fired the gun.
Smith identified himself to Edwards as a law enforcement officer and instructed Edwards to drop the gun. After repeating the order, Edwards complied and put his hands over his head, according to court documents.
Smith told Edwards to stay on the ground while Smith was joined by two county deputies, who handcuffed Edwards.
Smith saw that the gun was a Derya Arms 12-gauge shotgun.
Edwards said he had been checking his fiancee’s gun for her, firing it into the ground.
A neighbor called 911 to report hearing gunfire nearby.
Smith said Edwards had fired the gun into the air.
As a convicted felon, Edwards was prohibited from having a gun, even if he didn’t own it, Woodcock said.
“You cannot have a gun ever!” Woodcock told Edwards. “You never should have picked up that gun that day.”
The judge told him he can’t even be in the company of anyone who has a gun.
Mixing drinking and firearms is “extremely risky and dangerous,” Woodcock said.
Referring to the incident in Greene, Woodcock said, “The circumstances had the makings of a tragedy.”
Defense attorney Heather Gonzales told the judge her client is remorseful about the life he has led.
Until recently, she said he had lacked insight about his struggles with mental health and alcoholism.
Edwards had been raised by a violent, alcoholic father; his mother was addicted to crack cocaine and was mentally ill.
He grew up in Columbus, Ohio, where he was exposed to extreme poverty and violence.
Edwards began drinking alcohol at age 13 to self-medicate for the post-traumatic stress disorder he suffered as a youth, Gonzales said.
He hadn’t realized how he transformed into a different persona when he drank until he listened to audio and saw video of himself at the time he was confronted by law enforcement on Nov. 14, 2020, and arrested after he’d been drinking all day and was “barely coherent,” Gonzales said.
“It was humiliating for him to see himself in that state and very eye-opening,” she said.
Edwards apologized to his “best friend” and fiancee, who sat in the courtroom Wednesday at his sentencing. Because he was in custody, he was dressed in orange jail suit, his ankles shackled.
He said it was due to a “series of poor choices and alcohol use I’m here today.”
Seeing himself under the influence was “humbling and incredibly embarrassing,” he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Conley pointed to Edwards’ extensive criminal history that features more than 30 convictions, including several domestic violence incidents involving women.
“He has not gotten the message the criminal justice system has been trying to send him,” Conley said.
“He needs to address this horrific drinking problem,” Conley said. “This needs to stop.”
Conley said Edwards would “be a different person” if he were sober.
Woodcock described the sober and intoxicated Edwards as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
The judge said Edwards should find the help he needs to achieve sobriety in prison and afterward, while supervised by probation officers.
Woodcock told Edwards: “You’ve got to change. I also think you can do it.”
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