Show-Me State Times

St. Louis County man Joshua Lee, 37, has been sentenced to seven years and five months in prison after assaulting his then-girlfriend in 2022. According to U.S. District Judge Audrey G. Fleissig, Lee pleaded guilty to one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The incident occurred on August 6, 2022, when Lee was caught with a handgun by Saint Louis County Police officers responding to a report of a domestic incident involving an assault and shooting. The victim, Lee's then-girlfriend, had been shot in the back.

During the sentencing, Judge Fleissig stated, "Evidence and testimony showed that Lee committed an aggravated assault by striking and choking his then-girlfriend before she was shot during a struggle over the gun he had in his waistband." Lee, a convicted felon prohibited from possessing a firearm, was found guilty of the crime and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Furthermore, it was revealed that Lee was already on supervised release at the time of the assault, having previously pleaded guilty in 2016 to being a felon in possession of a firearm. As a result, Judge Fleissig sentenced Lee to an additional five months in prison for violating his supervised release.

The St. Louis County Police Department conducted the investigation into the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Catherine Hoag prosecuting.