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Felon in Possession of a Firearm
Case Summary:
The defendant, who was a convicted felon, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge arose out of an incident where the defendant was present in his girlfriend's home when police showed up to execute a search warrant on the property. After the police put everyone in handcuffs (6+ people or so) they began searching and questioning the people that were found at the residence. A gun was found in the home and the defendant was alleged to have admitted to the gun belonging to him. After a jury trial the defendant was acquitted on the charge.
Attorney comments:
"This is a great example of lazy police work. My client had made a foolish decision by telling the police the gun was his. However, the police either knew, or had strong reason to know, that my client didn't actually possess the gun. The truth was that the house belonged to the girlfriend and when the girlfriend told my client that the police were going to hit her with more serious charges for the gun she panicked. In an act of "chivalry" my client claimed possession of the gun by telling the officer the gun wasn't his but he would take the charge. The police didn't want to spend any more time investigating the case and since they had an "admission" they didn't think it was necessary. At trial we were able to show that my client's alleged admission was not an admission at all and that the police had failed to take investigative steps to confirm possession of the gun (i.e fingerprints, registration, etc) and also failed to separate the group for interviewing purposes at the scene. We were able to attack the lead investigator's credibility and between that and the poor investigation the jury didn't have too much trouble acquitting my client at trial."
The defendant, who was a convicted felon, was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. The charge arose out of an incident where the defendant was present in his girlfriend's home when police showed up to execute a search warrant on the property. After the police put everyone in handcuffs (6+ people or so) they began searching and questioning the people that were found at the residence. A gun was found in the home and the defendant was alleged to have admitted to the gun belonging to him. After a jury trial the defendant was acquitted on the charge.
Attorney comments:
"This is a great example of lazy police work. My client had made a foolish decision by telling the police the gun was his. However, the police either knew, or had strong reason to know, that my client didn't actually possess the gun. The truth was that the house belonged to the girlfriend and when the girlfriend told my client that the police were going to hit her with more serious charges for the gun she panicked. In an act of "chivalry" my client claimed possession of the gun by telling the officer the gun wasn't his but he would take the charge. The police didn't want to spend any more time investigating the case and since they had an "admission" they didn't think it was necessary. At trial we were able to show that my client's alleged admission was not an admission at all and that the police had failed to take investigative steps to confirm possession of the gun (i.e fingerprints, registration, etc) and also failed to separate the group for interviewing purposes at the scene. We were able to attack the lead investigator's credibility and between that and the poor investigation the jury didn't have too much trouble acquitting my client at trial."
Siskiyou County, California
Actual Case Summaries
Be advised that I never promise a client a particular outcome, details of prior cases should not be taken as an indication that other clients will necessarily see the same results.
Be advised that I never promise a client a particular outcome, details of prior cases should not be taken as an indication that other clients will necessarily see the same results.
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