Evidence was overwhelming, defense attorney says Wednesday, July 30, 2008By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch
Swift justice took a Slidell man from his pickup truck to prison in just a few months.

Randy Desalvo, 39, was convicted Tuesday of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession with intent to distribute marijuana.

State Judge Donald Fendlason immediately sentenced him to 10 years for each conviction. The sentences will run concurrently.

The district attorney office's spokesperson, Rick Wood, said the speedy jury trial was due to some recent changes in the office.

Assistant District Attorney Gerald Alonzo has retired and Assistant District Attorney Jack Hoffstadt has taken over his dockets, divisions G and H.

"When someone comes into a docket that they are not familiar with, they have to get familiar quick, and so they will generally proceed first with the cases that they can prepare for quickly," Wood said.

Desalvo's attorney, Ernest E. Barrow III, said "the evidence was pretty overwhelmingly against" his client. Barrow had argued that the guns were not functional and that Desalvo had them because he "loved to hunt."

Slidell police arrested Desalvo on Feb. 26 when they found him with a small arsenal of weapons, a pound of marijuana and five bottles of prescription medicine, including methadone and Valium.

Police had pulled his Ford F-150 pickup over after he failed to use his turn signal when turning onto West Howze Beach Road.

Officers collected an SKS assault rifle, a semiautomatic and a pump action shotgun, a .22-caliber rifle, a .50-caliber black-powder rifle, a .22-caliber revolver, a .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, a .32-caliber revolver, two Derringer pistols and ammunition for all the guns, police said.

In addition to the firearm and marijuana charges, Desalvo initially was charged with possession of methadone, Valium and drug paraphernalia, resisting arrest, public intimidation, contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, improper turning and driving without a lighted license plate.

Most of those charges were dropped. Wood said Desalvo presented a prescription for the Valium and that Desalvo said he is searching for the prescription for the methadone. If he finds it, that charge too would be dropped, Wood said.