MADISON, WIS. – Chadwick M. Elgersma, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Dushaun Mims, 40, Madison, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by Chief U.S. District Judge James D. Peterson to 6 years in prison for possessing a firearm as a convicted felon. The prison term will be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Mims pleaded guilty to this charge on June 18, 2026.
On May 6, 2025, Fitchburg and Madison Police Department officers were investigating a fatal stabbing incident that occurred at a bar in Fitchburg, Wisconsin. The investigation led them to Mims’s residence in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, where the stabbing suspect was located. After the suspect was arrested, officers executed a search warrant at the residence to look for evidence connected to the stabbing. During the search, officers found a black Colt Defense 5.56mm AR style rifle in the bathroom and three loaded AR magazines and 498 grams of counterfeit pills, some of which tested positive for para-flurofentanyl and fentanyl, in Mims’s bedroom. Mims’s DNA was found on the charging handle and backstrap of the AR style rifle and on the outside of one of the drug baggies. Mims is prohibited from legally possessing firearms or ammunition because of numerous prior felony convictions.
In imposing a sentence, Judge Conley weighed an “egregious” crime – possessing a firearm and fentanyl – along with aggravating factors like Mims’s serious prior record, including a history of domestic violence, which he called a “theme of his adult life,” against his severe medical issues and addictions.
The charge against Mims was the result of an investigation conducted by the Fitchburg and Madison Police Departments and the ATF Madison Crime Gun Task Force, which is comprised of federal agents from ATF and Task Force Officers from state and local agencies throughout the Western District of Wisconsin. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jennifer R. Remington and Steven P. Anderson prosecuted this case. Federal prosecutions by the U.S. Department of Justice involving drugs and guns are part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Operation Take Back America. Operation Take Back America is a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is the Department of Justice’s nationwide initiative that brings federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement, prosecutors, and other public safety partners together to coordinate efforts to combat violent crime and make communities safe. Coordinated by U.S. Attorneys’ offices in each of the 94 federal districts, PSN is tailored to particular communities to strategically address specific violent crime.