Posted on 04/08/2003 5:57:45 AM PDT by kattracks
A Navy veteran who shot an intruder in his toddler's bedroom decided against pleading guilty to a gun charge yesterday. Ronald Dixon rejected a deal that would have spared him from having to do jail time because he does not want a criminal record, his new attorney said.
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes initially charged Dixon, 27, with possessing an illegal weapon - an unregistered pistol - after he shot a career burglar he found prowling in his Canarsie home on Dec. 14.
Last month, Hynes reduced the charges to misdemeanor attempted weapon possession, which carries a maximum 90-day jail term. Hynes said he would only ask Dixon to serve four weekends in jail in exchange for a guilty plea.
Criminal Court Judge Alvin Yearwood changed that deal to a year's probation.
"After the people reduced the charges, this was put on for possible disposition," Yearwood told Dixon and his new attorney, Joseph Mure, yesterday. But the Jamaican immigrant declined the deal and left the courtroom without comment yesterday.
"That means he would have a criminal conviction, and that is a big concern to us," Mure said afterward.
Dixon gained widespread sympathy after he was charged with a crime. In a tearful interview, Dixon told the Daily News he could not afford to spend any time in jail because he was working seven days a week to support his family and pay his mortgage.
Originally published on April 8, 2003
You're right that the Constitution is mute on speed limits or DUI. This means that laws regarding same cannot be unconstitutional, as such, since the Constitution says nothing one way or the other. (Except federal laws which unconstitutionally violate states' rights.)
However, the Constitution, as amended, does say something about the right to keep and bear arms, namely that it not be infringed.
when the law and I run into a conflict, I'll work to change the law within the confines of the established court system.
Well, disobeying the law, being charged and tried, and having the judge (or jury) throw it out because the law is unconstitutional is working "within the confines of the established court system", but somehow I don't think that's what you had in mind.
Better get it in writing. GA law does not recognize verbal contracts
Perhaps... until you have to shoot someone. Then there's muss and fuss aplenty.
Actually, it's beyond 'constitutional.' It is a God-given right under natural law. It is inalienable. If the Constitution expressly forbid self-defense, the Constitution would be wrong, and happily ignored.
You are a bit mixed up my friend. Trying to board a domestic flight while carrying a firearm is stupid, the law preventing it is not. I can see why you hate repeating yourself.
How many gang (member)s, felons, and assorted criminals are prevented from having a gun in NYC by this unconstitutional law?
How many law abiding citizens are?
Enlightened Ones ("Illuminati") such as AllSmiles.
I see a chink developing in his armor. A small one, but a chink none the less. :)
The Constitution is the supreme law of this land. The DA's oath to uphold it, trumps the oath to uphold "the law", since it is the supreme law.
I agree with the others. Please stay in New York. You have found just the place to live and be happy, living under stupid laws passed by stupid, control-freak Liberals who want to run your life and take your freedoms all the while telling you they are doing it for your own good. Most of the people in NYC just love the likes of Hillary and Schumer. That tells you all you need to know about where they are coming from!
Me? I was born in Brooklyn. I lived in New York for years. But, I have moved, partly to escape the suffocating laws, confiscatory income taxes, and utter stupidity of the politicians and partly because their policies ruined the industry I was in and I had to leave while the getting out out was good. Now, I live in a State where the people are treated as citizens, not serfs to be exploited and abused at will. Best move I ever made!
Please, stay there. We have enough stupid New Yorkers who move here when they get tired of the mess they have made there but then come here and bring their suffocating attitudes with them.
Most probably a de facto yes. Maryland is an anti-freedom Marxist cesspit where all of the politicians, all of the JBTs, all of the bureaucrats, and most of the people hate, fear, and envy those who have any freedom and would attempt to punish you for it. If the law didn't technically apply, they would still prosecute you anyway.
Explain how he could do this.
Read the 10th Amendment. "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people."
State DUI laws and speed limit laws are constitutional since they are neither delegated to federal jurisdiction or prohibited by the Constitution.
Hello, jumping in late here. OK... Federal aircraft and pilot licensing? - Air traffic control and flight rules? Do we also have a right to not have Federal Aviation Regulations imposed on us? They are legally equivalent to driving regs, but are federal.
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