Posted on 11/03/2011 2:27:23 PM PDT by marktwain
MOBILE, Alabama -- A former Citronelle police officer violated the law when he kept a pair of handguns he took from motorists during his 11-year tenure on the force, a federal jury here decided this afternoon.
The jury convicted Bill Eugene Newburn guilty of 2 counts of possession of a stolen firearm. Under a preliminary calculation of advisory guidelines in his case, he faces at least a year and 9 months in prison and as much as 2 years and 3 months behind bars.
U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose scheduled his sentencing hearing for Feb. 10.
Police Chief Shane Stringer has said the 2 incidents were among several complaints he received about similar conduct, although the other incidents did not come out during the 2-day trial. U.S. District Court
During the trial, prosecutors contended that Newburn, 40, improperly kept guns that he took from 2 different people and then lied to cover it up.
Defense attorney Rick Williams countered that his client took both guns lawfully and acted within the boundaries of his duties as a law enforcement officer.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele O’Brien summarized the testimony of both incidents. In September 2007, Newburn — then a sergeant with the Citronelle Police Department — took a Llama 9mm handgun that was in the vehicle of a man charged with public intoxication on Pleasant Circle.
But the vehicle and the gun belonged to that man’s father, Johnny McBride, and Citronelle Municipal Judge John Williams ordered the weapon returned to him. O’Brien pointed to testimony that McBride never got it back.
“This firearm should have been returned to Johnny McBride, and he tried and tried and tried to get his firearm back,” she said.
O’Brien told jurors that the defendant followed a similar pattern in March of this year when he took a .22-caliber revolver that was in a woman’s car. The owner of that gun, Eric Newburn, testified that the officer — who is not related to him — later falsely told him the gun had been destroyed.
“The defendant told him, ‘Your firearm has been destroyed, cut into 2 pieces.’ Ladies and gentlemen, that shows intent,” O’Brien said. “What the defendant’s intent was was all over this case.”
Rick Williams told jurors in his closing argument that his client had reason to take both guns. In the first instance, Williams said, Sgt. Newburn was responding to a possible drug deal and found a loaded gun for which the driver had no pistol permit. In the second, the woman he questioned was parked on the side of the road in a known drug area and claimed not to know whom the gun even belonged to.
“He was acting within the line and scope of his employment as a police officer,” Williams said. “That’s what he should have done. That’s what he had a duty to do.”
If we shoplift one gun its 5 years federal pen and 250k fine
Cop steals guns - its 1 year.
I guess if you throw the word "drug" in there enough you can try to excuse just about anything.
Either he was stealing the property of law-abiding citizens, or he was stealing evidence taken in two criminal investigations.
No matter how you interpret the confiscation, he is still a thief.
Unions.
He needs to be shot.
He was just following the policies and procedures of his department. It was on the same page where they can shoot family pets.
Don't be silly, you never know when you are going to need a throw away. You have to be prepared for it otherwise you could be caught without one and that could be disastrous.
And what do you think my point was? I quoted his defense attorney bandying about the word, "drug" as though that legitimized the cop's thievery.
Welcome to the “new” police state.
It should not be any suprise to anybody that pays attention to what’s going on in this country. The elites of this nation (gubmint employees) abide by a different standard than us “breeders”.
To wit,
1.) Congress passes Obamacare while refusing to subject themselves to the same draconian healthcare rules it mandates upon the rest of us;
2.) Timmy Geithner fails to pay his taxes, he doesn’t go to jail, nor pay any significant financial penalities and still gets appointed as Fed Chairman;
3.) Neil Bush was part of the Savings & Loan scandal, but because “Poppy” was POTUS, he doesn’t even get a slap on the wrist;
4.) Charlie Rangel was guilty of tax evasion, yet he’s still in Congress rather than in jail;
5.) Dead Ted Kennedy rapped a woman in his beach house, and 20 years prior to that, was guilty of drunk driving and manslaughter, but he still died fat and decrepid as a US Senator having never been tried or convicted of his crimes;
6.) NEED I GO ON?
The rules are not made for the elites to follow; They are made to keep us mouth-breathers in an orderly line. So, just shut the hell up and vote for one to the 2 choices provided to you by the elites (D or R), it doesn’t matter which one because their all the same. Which is why they are so damn vehement in their attacks on people like Sarah Palin and Herman Cain.
(The establishment can’t tolerate any genuine reformers, nor can they tolerate any genuine “mavericks”. John McCain sucks balls! He was never a “maverick”. He’s nothing more than a political whore. And his daughter is a fat, ignorant, slovenly, idiot sloth that can’t form or spell a single coherant sentence.)
Correction:
their = they’re
Ernie
Timmy Geithner = Treasury Secretary
Defense attorney Rick Williams countered that his client took both guns lawfully and acted within the boundaries of his duties as a law enforcement officer.
Times have changed. Many years ago, the Chief of Police of my home town had a bushel basket full of confiscated guns. If they were lawfully taken, nobody cared what happened to them. They no longer belonged to their original owners or gun thieves. It was no issue. At that time Newburn could have done what he pleased with them.
But today, going to jail for possessing a lawfully confiscated firearm sounds crazy to me!
When the Police engage in theft it is a betrayal of trust.
A Police Officer willing to take a gun from a citizen for his own use and then lie about its whereabouts is no doubt capable of many other offenses.
That may be the sort of ol’ timey good ole boy law enforcement you are expecting - but most Americans expect their Police officers not to be petty crooks.
Let me make sure I understand your statement.
Are you saying that whatever a police officer "lawfully conficates" becomes his property?
You must be a cop. Nobody else could defend that.
About 30 years ago, my brother had three guns stolen out of his house. He did not know it until the cops called and told him they had recovered them and a checkbook with his name on it.
The police told him that they had to keep the guns as evidence and he should file an insurance claim
The idiot believed them.
Guess the police got to take three guns home.
But the vehicle and the gun belonged to that man’s father, Johnny McBride, and Citronelle Municipal Judge John Williams ordered the weapon returned to him. O’Brien pointed to testimony that McBride never got it back.
In one of the cases the LEO in question was defying a direct order from a judge to return the weapon. Less than five years in jail sounds crazy to me. This guy got off easy. He should have gotten extra for contempt of court.
No, but I had relatives who were cops. Confiscated firearms were destroyed or disappeared. They were not returned. Nobody cared.
If he took them, unjustifiably, why isn't it theft (or grand theft, depending on the threshold there)?
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