PORTLAND — In an “unusual case,” a former Auburn man found guilty three times for having a gun after being convicted of domestic violence was sentenced Thursday to the time already served.

Willie Minor of Auburn appears in Androscoggin County Superior Court in Auburn in 2019 when he was acquitted by a jury on state charges of sexual assault, sex trafficking and assault. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal file photo

Willie R. Minor, 63, of South Portland was convicted in federal court after three jury trials, his first two convictions having been overturned by a higher court.

Most recently, he was convicted in April by a jury in U.S. District Court on a charge of possession of a firearm by a person previously convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

The maximum penalty for the crime is 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

When U.S. District Court Chief Judge Jon D. Levy imposed his sentence on Minor, he noted how “unusual” it was that federal prosecutors were not seeking any prison time nor supervised release for the defendant.

But Levy agreed with Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Heimbach and with defense attorney William Maselli that no further incarceration was appropriate and Minor left the courtroom Thursday a free man.

Since his first conviction, Minor has served a total of two years, eight months and 10 days behind bars. He also had been on supervised release for roughly 2 1/2 years.

Maselli said his client plans to appeal the most recent conviction.

Minor was found guilty in 2017 for possessing a gun after having pleaded guilty in 2010 in state court to a misdemeanor assault charge involving his then-wife.

While the case was pending on appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that changed what the government is required to prove in certain federal firearm possession cases. The parties in the case agreed to have the original conviction vacated and the case retried.

Minor was convicted again in 2020 after a two-day trial on the same charge.

At that trial, because of the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision, prosecutors had been required to prove not only that Minor had been convicted of assaulting his then-wife, but also that he knew he had been convicted of that crime and had been aware of certain details of the conviction.

Prosecutors had argued at trial that Minor possessed a .38-caliber pistol after he had been convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence assault.

During a 2016 interview with Auburn police, Minor had admitted he’d had a gun and told police he’d kept it in his apartment. Police later searched his apartment after getting a warrant and found the gun Minor had described, according to federal prosecutors.

In 2019, Minor was acquitted on state charges of sexual assault, sex trafficking and assault after a four-day trial in Androscoggin County Superior Court.

An opinion by a panel of judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston said prosecutors were required to prove at trial not only that Minor knew he had a gun, but that “he knew he belonged to the relevant category of persons barred from possessing a firearm.”

The circuit court panel vacated Minor’s conviction because “the jury was allowed to convict (him) of knowingly violating (the law) without finding that he knew that his assault conviction placed him in the category of persons convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.”

Prosecutors appealed the circuit court panel’s order to the entire circuit court, which found in favor of the government, ruling that prosecutors didn’t have to prove at trial that Minor knew his 2010 assault conviction had put him in a category of offenders who were prohibited from having a gun.

That ruling did vacate Minor’s conviction though, which led to the third trial.

Maselli asked the judge to declare a mistrial, noting that during the trial, prosecutors had flashed a photograph of Minor’s bruised then-wife. Maselli said the photograph was prejudicial.

The judge denied that motion.

U.S. Attorney Darcie N. McElwee issued a statement Thursday, saying, “This office will continue to prioritize prosecutions against those convicted of domestic violence who illegally possess firearms. Anyone convicted of abuse – and those they choose to victimize – should understand that illegal gun possession by domestic abusers will not be tolerated.”