AP Photo/Wade Payne
Under the Armed Career Criminal Act, ex-felons can't posses guns or ammunition. Even though Young didn't own a shotgun (or any other weapon) to match the shells, U.S. attorney William Killian prosecuted him anyway. The judge called the case "Dickensian," but federal law tied his hands. He gave Young 15 years in federal
"This sentence is not so much a punishment for the present
State authorities eventually dismissed the burglary charges that allowed police to search Young's home.
Young found the shotgun shells while helping his elderly neighbor sell her dead husband's belongings.
He then set them aside so his kid's wouldn't find them.
Young, now 43, committed his past crimes — none of which involved a gun — as a young man. After his release in 1996, he married, worked 6 days a week, and raised four children in Texas.
"It wasn't my intent ... I don't think I deserve to grow up without my family, and I don't think my family deserves to grow up with me," Young said, reported the The Times Free Press.
Regardless, according to Kristof's calculations, the