Steven Cooper, 32, was sentenced Monday in St. Louis District Court. Louis County to five years of supervised probation. Judge Dale Harris opted not to follow minimum sentencing guidelines that call for prison time.

Cooper was charged with criminal possession of a firearm by the St. Louis County District Attorney’s Office. Louis in July 2022 after he told his parole officer about finding a gun and ammunition among things in a vehicle left behind by his brother, who had recently died. . Cooper had wrapped the gun in a hoodie and put it in a safe place in his building before calling his parole officer, who notified the police.

After Cooper was charged, both the Duluth NAACP and the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus called on the county to drop the charges. Duluth NAACP President Classie Dudley said at the time that the charge sent the message that unregistered guns and guns in the possession of people who shouldn’t have one shouldn’t be turned in.

At a 2023 NAACP press conference, Cooper said he was “honest from the start. By doing the right thing, I get punished.”

Cooper pleaded guilty last fall in hopes of seeking parole. He later withdrew it because lawyers said they learned his previous conviction would not allow for such a sentence. Cooper shot two gas station clerks in 2006 when he was 15 and was convicted of attempted murder. He was paroled after serving 13 and a half years.

On Monday, Harris cited case law that he said allowed a downward departure from the sentencing guidelines, and Cooper re-entered his guilty plea.

“I know this has been a long and winding road, but I think this is a fair result,” Harris told Cooper.