A 48-year-old Kansas City woman has pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a firearm after police found a pistol in plain view on the passenger seat of her car during a disturbance call last year. Courtney L. Jones now faces up to 15 years in federal prison without parole, though her actual sentence has not yet been decided.
According to KCTV, prosecutors said Jones entered her guilty plea in federal court to the charge of possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The case stems from July 5, 2025, when Kansas City police officers responded to a report of a disturbance involving a firearm in the area of 36th and Agnes Avenue, federal prosecutors said.
Officers reported seeing Jones moving around the driveway near her car, and one officer spotted a Romarm Model Mini Draco 7.62 x 39 mm pistol sitting in plain view on the passenger seat, per the same account. Investigators said Jones was arrested at the scene.
Guilty Plea Entered Before Federal Judge
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri announced that Jones entered her guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough. The case was investigated by the Kansas City Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the station's report notes.
Federal law backs up the maximum penalty cited in the case. Under 18 U.S.C. § 924, as published by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell Law School, anyone who knowingly violates the felon-in-possession statute can be imprisoned for not more than 15 years, fined, or both.
What Happens Next
A judge will determine Jones' actual sentence only after a pre-sentence investigation that applies federal advisory sentencing guidelines, the article notes. Those guidelines can shape outcomes well below the statutory maximum, and the firearms-specific guideline, known as §2K2.1, along with related enhancements, is outlined in a primer published by the United States Sentencing Commission. No sentencing date or guideline calculation specific to Jones' case has been made public.
