Twenty-eight-year-old gang member Deunta Finch aka “LT”, of Big Oak Drive in Nashville, is heading to federal prison for more than 24 years on federal firearms and robbery charges in a case that was investigated by the MNPD’s Gang Unit and the ATF.
According to court documents, Finch was a ranking member of the Athens Park Bloods street gang and had multiple, previous state felony convictions, including two convictions for being a felon in possession of firearms, a conviction for robbery and a conviction for reckless endangerment with a weapon. As a convicted felon, Finch was prohibited from possessing firearms or ammunition.
Court documents outline that on June 21, 2015, Finch pulled a gun and stole another firearm from a juvenile, while in the J.C. Napier public housing development. Two days later, Finch was riding in a car with another juvenile and became involved in a shootout with the occupants of another vehicle. Finch was injured in the shootout, but left the scene and was later located and transported to a local hospital for treatment. After treatment, he was arrested on outstanding state warrants and then bonded out of custody. Finch failed to appear in court as required and was arrested by Metro Nashville SWAT officers in another car on November 12, 2015. A nine millimeter pistol was recovered from the glove compartment of that car during this arrest. Ballistics evidence revealed that the recovered firearm had been used one week earlier, on November 5, 2015, in a drug related shooting, in which Finch robbed a drug dealer at Lexington Garden Apartments in Madison. His intended victim resisted, and Finch shot and severely wounded him. Finch then left the area with a quantity of cocaine which he took from his victim.
Finch entered into a plea agreement with the government on January 24, 2017, and agreed to a 15-year sentence. Seven weeks after Finch entered into the agreement, he assaulted another federal prisoner at the Grayson County Detention Facility, in Leitchfield, Kentucky, and seriously injured him, including breaking his jaw and ribs. The government then filed a motion to withdraw from the plea agreement, citing Finch’s criminal conduct in committing the assault that violated the terms of the agreement.
U.S. District Judge Marvin Aspen noted Finch’s extensive criminal history and countless opportunities to rehabilitate and remarked that, “the protection of society was the most important factor,” before sentencing him to 290 months in federal prison.
