City contractor Bobby Ferguson is already serving 21 years in prison for his convictions in the Kwame Kilpatrick corruption case. He was sentenced in October.

Now, the feds want to give him a break -- sort of.

Ferguson was preparing to face trial in a totally separate case involving allegations that he rigged a bid to land a lucrative, $12 million city contract. The first trial, last year,  resulted in a deadlocked jury and a mistrial was declared.

But last month, shortly before the retrial was to begin, Ferguson's last co- defendant in the case, Michael Woodhouse, pleaded guilty to conspiracy. That only left Ferguson as the sole defendant.

As a result, the government filed a motion a earlier this week requesting to drop counts one and four relating to the bid rigging and just go after Ferguson on multiple felon counts of a felon in possession of a gun.  

"The government anticipates that dismissal of Count One and Count Four will result in the reduction of approximately 35 witnesses and approximately 100 exhibits it would otherwise need to present during its case in chief," prosecutors wrote in a court motion. " Dismissal of the above identified counts would therefore preserve significant resources of the Court, the jurors, witnesses, the defendants and the government. In addition to simplifying and streamlining the presentation of evidence, the government also seeks to dismiss the above identified counts in an effort to minimize and eliminate redundant and unnecessary penalties imposed in this proceeding and in the case United States v. Kilpatrick.

The government alleges that Ferguson in 2009 and 2010 was in possession of a Bryco .380 caliber pistol, a Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun and a Tauruss PT99 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol. 

Interestingly, the government had come under criticism for prosecuting Ferguson in this case after he had already been convicted and sentenced in the Kilpatrick trial. The government reasoned that since it was retrying other co-defendants in the case, it might as well prosecute Ferguson.

But now that there are no other co-defendants, the government has made adjustments.

Still, some may wonder why the government is even bothering with the gun charges. Perhaps prosecutors at this point  are hoping Ferguson pleads guilty and makes the case go away.

We'll soon see.

Trial is set for Feb. 11.