He scoffed at gun, fentanyl arrest. Now he will get 30 years

Derrick Maurice Scott scoffed at police who arrested him in Minneapolis for possessing hundreds of fentanyl pills and a gun last June, proclaiming "when I get released, I will still be the king" and get another gun.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger seized on those words and used the case to underscore his newly heightened push to prosecute more gun and drug cases since his reappointment to the office for a second term.

Now, after a jury convicted Scott on federal gun and drug charges Tuesday, the 34-year-old Maple Grove man instead faces at least a mandatory 30-year federal prison sentence.

"Mr. Scott's bravado was badly misplaced," Luger said afterward in a statement announcing the guilty verdict.

Scott was convicted after a two-day trial in Minneapolis on charges stemming from the June 6, 2022, traffic stop when police found 355 fentanyl tablets and a Glock 41, a .45-caliber pistol equipped with an auto sear device, commonly referred to as a "switch," which can transform a firearm into a fully automatic weapon. Officers also recovered a high-capacity magazine and 14 rounds of ammunition.

Scott was stopped after police received a complaint that he had threatened another man while brandishing a firearm at a convenience store two days earlier. After his arrest, he proclaimed that he would have no trouble serving a prison sentence before quickly returning to the street and finding another firearm to use.

The jury convicted him of possession with intent to distribute fentanyl, possessing and carrying a machine gun in furtherance of drug trafficking, possession of a machine gun and felon in possession of a firearm.

"Drug dealers utilizing auto sears are doing severe damage to the people in our communities, and it must stop," said William McCrary, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in St. Paul.

"Today's conviction is a case where a criminal who is clearly willing to do violence using these devices has been held accountable and will be removed from society for a very long time."

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said in a statement that Scott's "bad acts caused significant harm in our communities. His disregard for human life required swift and significant consequences."

Kevin DeVore, Scott's defense attorney, said Wednesday that the issue for the jury was whether the government could prove his intent.

"We put on a strong defense and urged the jury to hold the government to its highest burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The government urged the jury to use common sense to determine what Mr. Scott intended to do with the drugs and the gun which they said belonged to him," DeVore said.