TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Aug 11, 2025

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed sentences in two gun possessions arising from cases in Memphis. In the first ruling, the court upheld a 108-month federal sentence for a Memphis man convicted of possessing a machine gun. In 2024, Senior U.S. District Judge John T. Fowlkes sentenced Jaquan Bridges to 108 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Bridges appealed the judgment, arguing that the prosecution violated his Second Amendment right to bear arms. The appeals court upheld the sentence and the constitutionality of the federal statute regulating the possession of machine guns. In the second case, the appeals court upheld a 50-year federal prison sentence handed down to Louis Holloway, who was convicted in 2022 for the attempted robbery and death of University of Memphis student John Stambaugh. Holloway originally was sentenced to life in prison but due to changes in the law, that sentence was vacated. At a resentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Samuel H. Mays sentenced Holloway to 50 years in federal prison, the statutory maximum, followed by three years of supervised release. The appeals court affirmed that sentence, holding it was reasonable considering the horrific nature of the offense and Holloway’s serious criminal history. Read more about these cases from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.