Man draws prison for illegal gun sales, standoff with police in Montco
NORRISTOWN >> It’s a moment detectives with Montgomery County’s Violent Crime Unit will never forget.
“He pulled out a gun. It was like, ‘this was it, I’m going to get killed or he’s going to kill my friends,’” an undercover detective, his voice choked with emotion at times, testified at the sentencing hearing of Kevin Lee Stillman, the Delaware County man who ignored police commands to exit his vehicle and then brandished
a Glock 40-caliber handgun as detectives moved in to arrest him for illegally selling firearms outside a gun show in Upper Providence.
The detective, a father of two, called it “a horrible, horrible feeling.”
“That never leaves you. I’m lucky to be home with my kids,” the seasoned detective told Montgomery County Judge Thomas C. Branca.
“I don’t know how he wasn’t shot after what he did. Good police work. That’s why he’s alive,” the detective said, referring to the 9:35 a.m. Feb. 10, 2018, standoff with Stillman on the parking lot of the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in the Oaks section of Upper Providence.
Branca agreed, calling detectives’ actions “exceptional.”
“I have no idea how you’re alive,” Branca addressed Stillman, 49, of the 700 block of Bethel Avenue, Upper Chichester. “The amount of courage and incredible discipline that day was exceptional by these detectives and officers.”
Branca sentenced Stillman to 9-to-18-years in a state correctional facility.
During a nonjury trial earlier this year, Branca convicted Stillman of two counts of illegal sale or transfer of firearms, four counts of recklessly endangering others and two counts each of terroristic threats, simple assault and aggravated assault in connection with the incident.
About 35 law enforcers, county detectives and Upper Providence police, sat in the courtroom gallery as Stillman’s sentence was imposed.
“Whenever you have a gun pointed at you that close, you don’t forget that,” one Upper Providence police officer testified.
Other detectives with the Violent Crime Unit recalled the emotional experience of having to tell loved ones about their close call. One detective recalled thinking about his law enforcement partner and the danger they were in, coming so close to being shot.
“I thought of his kids,” the detective testified, emphasizing the law enforcement bond. “I couldn’t believe we let this guy get the drop on us.”
Before learning his fate, Stillman apologized for his conduct, calling it “the worst decision of my life.” Stillman said he didn’t realize the impact of his conduct until he heard the testimony of detectives.
“I’m sorry, especially to the police,” Stillman, wearing a red jailhouse jumpsuit, told the judge.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele sought a sentence of at least 12 years in prison for Stillman.
“There was a defendant who was willing to put guns in the hands of someone he believed that was a criminal. This was an individual who was willing to point a gun at police officers. He took a semiautomatic and racked one in the chamber,” Steele said. “The restraint the officers showed that day is beyond heroic.”
Defense lawyer John Kravitz argued Stillman’s conduct was an act of desperation and was more “suicidal than homicidal.” Stillman, Kravitz said, suffered from depression, mental illness and an opioid addiction after suffering a back injury and was unable to work.
“He was trying in an awful way to have the men shoot him. But he was not going to have a shootout,” Kravitz, argued, adding Stillman never fired his gun.
Branca said his sentence was based on an objective and dispassionate evaluation of the facts. Branca, the son of a police officer, said he is not insensitive to the trauma faced by the detectives or to the devastating effects of gun violence.
“I can’t let those passions just have me throw the book at the defendant. I need to impose justice,” Branca explained.
While the judge convicted Stillman of making two illegal sales of guns to an undercover detective he acquitted Stillman of charges of attempted illegal gun sales in connection with eight other guns Stillman had in his vehicle while outside the gun show.
During the trial, Kravitz maintained Stillman went to the gun show with the intention “to perpetuate legal sales” but then “snapped.”
A search of Stillman’s vehicle uncovered three rifles, six handguns, about 1,000 rounds of ammunition and multiple cardboard signs advertising firearms for sale, detectives alleged.
A search of Stillman’s Delaware County home later that day uncovered 10 long guns, two handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition and 60 marijuana plants. Stillman also was convicted of a charge of possession with intent to deliver marijuana.
The judge ordered that Stillman’s gun be forfeited to the district attorney’s office.
During the trial, Assistant District Attorney Laura Bradbury, captain of the gun crimes unit, argued Stillman was motivated by “his greed and desire for money” when he conducted the illegal gun sales.
“Straw purchases are one of our most dangerous crimes. They put guns in the hands of violent criminals who use them for robberies, drug deals and murders. Gun violence is something that we take very seriously so having a significant sentence like this shows that there is that deterrence and that likelihood of a lengthy period of jail time if you commit this crime in Montgomery County,” Bradbury said.
The investigation began when detectives, who were at the Eagle Arms Gun Show at the Expo Center, were advised by center employees that a man was selling firearms in the parking lot of the center located along Station Avenue in Upper Providence. The employees did not know who the individual was nor was he approved to sell the firearms in that manner, according to court papers.