United States of America v. Jonathan Anthony Reid

Fort Myers, Florida, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with unlawful transportation of firearms.



On January 29, 2020, at about 1:15 am, two victims were

shot at Babe's nightclub. Surveillance footage captured the shoot-

ing as it unfolded. The footage revealed two individuals speaking

in front of Babe's when a silver Kia arrived. An unidentified person

wearing a hooded sweatshirt, a ski mask, and a blue glove emerged

from the car and approached the individuals. The unidentified per-

son fired a gun at the two individuals, wounding them both. The

victims both fled before the shooter returned to his car and traveled

westbound. Document: 68-1 Date Filed: 08/19/2025 Page: 2 of 2623-10619 Opinion of the Court 3

scene where he collected nine shell casings, five bullets, and one

live round of ammunition. As the detective was investigating the

scene, an officer saw a silver Kia matching a description of the sus-

pect's car and began to follow it. When the officer eventually

caught up to the car, it drifted to the side of the road and crashed.

The officer then pursued the suspect on foot, but he failed to ap-

prehend him. Law enforcement then impounded the car and se-

cured a search warrant for the vehicle.

At the impound lot, officers searched the car. There, they

found Reid's driver's license, a ski mask, three cellphones including

a pre-paid cellphone, a sweatshirt, a paycheck for "Reid J,” a rental

car receipt indicating that the car was rented to Reid, and a fanny

pack containing blue latex gloves, a gun, and ammunition. Each of

these items was tied directly to Reid or the crime. A manager for

the rental car company later confirmed that Reid rented a silver Kia

Optima on January 24 that was scheduled to be returned on Janu-

ary 29. Store surveillance footage captured Reid purchasing the

pre-paid phone. Cell tower records indicated that the three phones

were "close in proximity” to Babe's at the time of the shooting. And

testing later confirmed that the shell casings from the crime scene

were fired from the gun found in the car, fingerprints on the pre-

paid phone belonged to Reid, and Reid was the "major profile” or

"number one contributor” of DNA found on each item, including

the gun. Reid later stipulated that the gun "was manufactured out-

side the state of Florida and was subsequently moved into the State

of Florida.”



ATF Special Agent Ivan Kovacevich assisted in the investi-

gation and testified about his involvement at trial. According to Ko-

vacevich, he and three other officers interviewed Reid. During the

interview, Reid said that he rented the silver Kia, but that it had

been abandoned and likely stolen. When asked about the three cell-

phones found in the car, he admitted to owning two of them but

denied owning the pre-paid phone. Kovacevich did not know why

Reid denied owning the pre-paid phone, but he theorized that Reid

purchased the phone as a "drop phone,” used it to "contact[ ] an-

other individual who was present at the location arranging for the

shooting to take place,” and intended to discard it after the shoot-

ing. When asked for the passcode to unlock his phones, Reid re-

fused. He also denied owning the ski mask, sweatshirt, fanny pack,

and gun that were found in the car.



At trial, the government asked Kovacevich about a tattoo on

Reid's stomach that resembled elements of the crime. Specifically,

the tattoo depicted "a person wearing a ski mask holding two

smoking semiautomatic handguns that look nearly identical to the

[gun] brandished in this case.” Reid objected to this evidence as

having "zero relevance” and "zero probative value.” He argued

that it was "not a predicter of [']now I'm going to start shooting

people at Babe's because I have a tattoo.[']” But the government

insisted that it intended to use the tattoo to prove identity because

of the similarities between the tattoo and the shooter captured on

video. The court allowed the government to submit evidence of

the tattoo and instructed the jury that it could consider the evi-

dence "for the limited purpose of deciding an identity” but "must

USCA11 Case: 23-1061923-10619 Opinion of the Court 5

not consider this evidence to decide if the defendant engaged in the

activity alleged in the indictment.”



The government also introduced evidence of Reid's prior

conviction under Fla. Stat. § 790.23 for possessing a firearm as a

convicted felon. Reid objected to the submission on the basis that

he already stipulated to being a convicted felon which is an element

of his charged offense. But the court allowed the submission along

with an instruction that the jury could consider the prior convic-

tion "to decide whether the defendant had the state of mind or in-

tent necessary to commit” the present offense, but it could not rely

on the conviction "to decide if the defendant engaged in the activity

alleged.”



At closing arguments, the prosecutor summarized the gov-

ernment's case against Reid. The prosecutor recounted the DNA

analysis, cellphone records, and witness testimony, and he replayed

the surveillance footage that captured the shooting. While playing

the footage, he also stated that "you can see . . . the defendant get-

ting out [of the car,] . . . the defendant getting back into the silver

vehicle[,] . . . here he is exiting [the scene,] . . . [a]nd he is, in fact,

turning left[.]” Reid maintains that surveillance footage was not

clear and was devoid of "any evidence that [the suspect] resembled

[him.]” After closing, the jury found Reid guilty.



The court proceeded to sentencing. The government filed a

PSI in which it sought several sentence enhancements. Most rele-

vant of these enhancements was the armed career criminal en-

hancement. According to the PSI, Reid was eligible for an armed

career criminal enhancement under U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4 "because the

instant offense of conviction is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and

the defendant has at least three prior convictions for a violent fel-

ony or serious drug offense, or both, that were committed on oc-

casions different from one another.” Those prior convictions in-

cluded aggravated assault on November 9, 2012; sale of cocaine on

November 16, 2012; and sale of a controlled substance and posses-

sion of heroin with intent to sell on March 19, 2018. At sentencing,

the court read these facts and recognized that Reid made "no ob-

jection.” The court even afforded Reid another opportunity to ob-

ject, but he did not. Reid filed proposed objections to the PSI, but

he did not deny that he committed three violent felonies or serious

drug offenses on three separate occasions. The court then adopted

the PSI calculations and applied the armed career criminal en-

hancement.

Ultimately, the court sentenced Reid to life imprison-

ment to run concurrent to any anticipated state sentence with five

year’s supervised release.





Affirmed