Man seeks lower sentence for ghost guns conviction

A former Martinsburg man who was sentenced earlier this year to 10 years in prison for his role in a group that produced illegal ghost guns, hit kits and ammunition has filed a petition in the U.S. District Court in Johnstown seeking a reduction in his jail time.

Harry Miller, 48, was arrested in September 2023, along with former Altoona Police Detective Craig Zahradnik, 52, and Wayne Patrick Farabaugh, 55, of Altoona, an auto mechanic, on multiple federal charges stemming from their manufacturing and distribution of the illegal guns.

Farabaugh was recently sentenced to a probationary period of three years.

Zahradnik remains out of prison due to illness. His sentencing date continues to be postponed upon request of his attorney.

Miller, however, was sentenced in May by federal District Judge Stephanie L. Haines to a term of 120 months of confinement to be followed by three years of supervision.

He entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to manufacture and deal in firearms without a license; possession of a firearm by a convicted felon; possession of a machine gun; trafficking in firearms and the transfer of firearms in violation of the National Firearms Act, as well as other offenses.

Miller, who was known as a man who "was good at building things," told the judge during his sentencing hearing that he was "truly sorry and I realize what I have done ... I am sorry I let people down who believed in me."

He said he has asked the Lord for mercy and noted he wanted to straighten out his life.

His only request of the judge was that he be able to serve his prison term at a facility near his Blair County home.

Records show Miller presently is being housed in the federal prison in Loretto, Cambria County.

Miller, through the Federal Public Defender office, recently filed an appeal of his case with the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia.

And this past week, Assistant Public Defender Ray Kim filed a petition in Johnstown, in which he asked Haines to reduce Miller's sentence by at least 16 months due to a change in the federal sentencing guidelines.

Haines late last week ordered the government to respond to the petition by Dec. 6.

Federal sentencing guidelines are complex and take into consideration a defendant's criminal history, according to the petition filed by Kim.

Because of Miller's record, the sentencing guidelines showed him to have a score of seven criminal history points.

Among the seven criminal history points, two of those (known as status points) were included because he committed his gun offenses while on parole.

His criminal history thus came in at an offense level of 27, which means his sentence was to be within the range of 100 to 125 months, the petition explained.

Haines' sentence was 120 months.

According to the defense petition in the Miller case, the federal Sentencing Commission recently reduced the number of status points that would be applicable to Miller's case.

This had the effect of reducing the sentencing range in the case from 100 to 125 months, to 87 to 108 months.

The Commission made the new guideline range for a person in Miller's circumstance retroactive, meaning his present sentence could be lowered due to the new guidelines.

The defense is thus asking that Miller's sentence be lowered from 120 to 104 months.

The reason behind the reduction in status points, according to the defense petition, was a determination that they had little effect on recidivism rates among federal inmates.

"The proposed reduction is also consistent with the need to protect the public from future crimes," according to the Miller petition.

One problem, however, exists with respect to Miller's request.

Miller's case is on appeal before the 3rd Circuit, which means it is out of the district judge's hands.

The defense thus is asking Haines to indicate she would grant the reduction in sentence and that she request a remand by the appeals court so the new sentence could be imposed.

Practically speaking, if the reduction were to be granted, Miller's release date would be June 3, 2030.

His present release date is Oct. 3, 2031.