Federal agents say an Instagram post tied a Detroit man to the pistol-whipping of his ex-girlfriend — a photo of a handgun with hair caught in the muzzle, captioned about weave stuck in the gun. He was arrested. But he was not charged with the assault.
What investigators say happened
The victim was struck hard enough that pieces of her hair weave lodged in the muzzle of the Glock, according to federal agents. The post allegedly showed that gun in that condition. FBI agents searched the Detroit home of Colin Harris and recovered a loaded, stolen .45-caliber Glock with a round in the chamber. He was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
The charge is the story
It is tempting to file this under criminals incriminating themselves online, and the detail is certainly striking. But the more consequential fact is what he was charged with. Felon in possession is a federal offense carrying serious prison time, and critically, it does not require the victim to participate. The photograph establishes possession. Proving the assault would require her to testify, cooperate through trial, and hold up under cross-examination, in a domestic violence case involving an ex-partner, which is precisely the category where prosecutions collapse most often when a witness withdraws.
Whether that is a good thing is genuinely arguable
One reading: this is prosecutors using an available tool to remove an armed, violent person from the street without forcing a frightened victim to carry the case. That is a real benefit, and anyone who has watched a domestic violence prosecution fall apart when the complainant stops returning calls understands why it matters.
The other reading is harder to dismiss. The conviction, if it comes, will be for having a gun. The record will not say a woman was beaten with it. Sentencing will reflect the possession offense, the victim will get no formal acknowledgment of what was done to her, and the public record of this case will describe a firearms violation. There is something uncomfortable about a system that most reliably punishes the provable adjacent crime rather than the actual harm, even when the outcome is someone dangerous going to prison. Which of those two readings you find more persuasive is, we would suggest, the argument actually worth having here.
Related from BeezLoop: Three Men Were Killed at an After-Hours Club in a Detroit House, Globetrotting Sailor Wanted for Child Exploitation Arrested in Canada and Eight Shot at a Florida Memorial Gathering.
