Posted on 01/08/2011 4:55:14 AM PST by marktwain
Fourteen years after being forced to plead guilty to the "crime" of owning a gun in Washington, the blot against the record of Dave Magnus may be cleared. On Thursday, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals recognized that one should not bear a stigma for the past possession of a firearm in the nation's capital for the purpose of self-defense. "A conviction for conduct that is not criminal, but is instead constitutionally-protected, is the ultimate miscarriage of justice," Judge Stephen H. Glickman wrote in the 12-page decision.
Other officials failed to see matters with such clarity. The U.S. Attorney's office drew fire from the appellate judges during oral arguments in the case for claiming, in essence, that there was no realistic way such gun possession cases could be reopened, despite the Supreme Court's landmark 2008 Heller decision rejecting the District's gun ban as unconstitutional.
Mr. Magnus got into trouble in 1996 when police raided the residence in which he rented a room. Officers found .357 magnum and .45 caliber pistols among his belongings, but prosecutors focused on the misleading fact that drugs were found elsewhere in the boarding house. Gaillard T. Hunt, the attorney who represented Mr. Magnus on his appeal, insists his client had nothing to do with the drugs. "It was a pretty clear situation," Mr. Hunt explained to The Washington Times. "The place was a house with several rooms rented out in it and each room had its own lock on the door. The marijuana and the large amounts of cash belonged to someone else in someone else's room."
No drug charges stuck to Mr. Magnus, who never has been convicted of a serious crime - aside from bogus gun charges.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
That this pettifogging bureaucrat of a Justice Department prosecutor pursued this clear juggernaut for injustice is a strong indicator that at least one Justice Department attorney's tax payer job is superfluous. Maybe a 10% budget cut for Justice, each year, until they stop trying frivolous claims.
*** Officers found .357 magnum and .45 caliber pistols among his belongings,***
I am reminded of the shooting of Kevin Ballew about 40 years ago in DC. The police claimed he fired a shot at them.
He thought it was a home invasion, grabbed a black powder reproduction pistol and was immediatly shot by the cops. As he fell he fired one shot from his black powder pistol INTO THE WALL about 8 inches from the floor, 90 degrees away from the cops. Yet, he “fired” first?
BTTT!
Prosecutors have to get out of this “win at any cost” mentality.
If this was a civil case the judges would have reported the prosecutor to the bar for discipline.
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