A jury late Friday afternoon convicted an Angels Camp businessman of violating state law by possessing a machine gun and nine assault weapons.
Richard Wilmshurst, co-owner of Forty-Niner Subaru, remains free on his own recognizance and will be sentenced next month.
"There was no doubt there was possession (of the weapons)," said juror Jennifer Eltringham, 53, of Angels Camp.
She said the guilty verdict was not easily reached. But after listening to more than a day's worth of testimony, combined with the judge's instructions, jurors found Wilmshurst guilty of the two counts.
Wilmshurst, 68, said after Friday's hearing that the verdict did not surprise him given California's strict gun laws.
"They're pretty tough in this state, right or wrong," he said. "They go against the other 49 states, but I happen to live in California."
A federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent reported the guns to state officials in January 2003 after finding them during a routine inspection on Wilmshurst's private property.
When state authorities returned to Angels Camp, they found 10 guns that are illegal to possess under California law, said Deputy Attorney General Aaron Maguire.
A jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about an hour Friday afternoon in Calaveras County Superior Court. A few people, including Wilmshurst's son, sat in the courtroom as a court clerk read the verdict.
Along with Sonora attorney Thomas Marovich, Wilmshurst represented himself in trial last Thursday and Friday.
He maintains that his federal gun import license supersedes state laws.
"California doesn't recognize anybody but California," he said after the trial.
Wilmshurst said he had the guns at home because he and his longtime friend, who died in Wyoming, were going to go into business together, selling the guns to law enforcement and airport security crews.
His friend died in 2002, the year before the weapons were found.
On Feb. 11, Wilmshurst said he filed an appeal of his case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco so he can "get a reading on the Second Amendment as it applies to individuals in the United States."
A portion of the Second Amendment reads, " ... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Wilmshurst, who said he hopes his case is appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court by a three-judge panel, was not sure when the panel will hear his case.
"It's due to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court," Wilmshurst said.
As for the state case, Thomas Smith, a visiting El Dorado County judge, set a deadline of today for Wilmshurst to schedule an interview with the Calaveras County Probation Department.
That interview will help determine his sentence. A sentencing hearing will be held at 9:30 a.m. April 21.
Maguire would not comment on the case or what sentence Wilmshurst could face.
Car dealer's gun cache must go - April 22, 2005, by Mike Morris
A judge yesterday ordered an Angels Camp businessman to turn over his gun collection to the Calaveras County Sheriff's Department or a licensed gun dealer.
The ruling by Judge Thomas Smith came after a Calaveras County Superior Court jury last month convicted Richard Wilmshurst of violating state law by possessing a machine gun and nine assault weapons.
Wilmshurst, co-owner of Forty-Niner Subaru, yesterday morning was sentenced to three years on probation.
With the sentence, Wilmshurst may not possess or use any firearm or dangerous weapon and he's subject to random firearm searches. He also must have written permission from his probation officer before leaving the state.
"He's shown exactly no remorse on these charges," Smith said, noting that Wilmshurst collected guns to "stockpile his own arsenal."
After yesterday's sentencing hearing, Wilmshurst said he will appeal the case within the state's 60-day limit. And he's confident the ruling will be overturned in his favor.
An advocate of the right to bear arms, Wilmshurst defended having the weapons in a pre-sentencing statement to Smith.
"Even in a small town such as Angels Camp you never know when you have to defend yourself or others," he wrote.
Smith denied Wilmshurst's request to give his guns to his grandson, a Tracy police officer.
The visiting El Dorado County judge also said no to a motion by Wilmshurst and his Sonora attorney, Thomas Marovich, to reduce the two felony charges to misdemeanors.
"He has had a clean record for 68-plus years," Marovich said of Wilmshurst.
The lawyer further asked that Wilmshurst, 68, not face time behind bars because of his age and his "family responsibilities."
Smith in turn ordered Wilmshurst to serve one day in the county jail, but gave him credit for that sentence because the businessman was booked there in 2003 on the gun charges.
"I think the judge made a good sentencing choice," said Deputy Attorney General Aaron Maguire, who prosecuted the case.
A federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent reported the guns to state officials in January 2003 after finding them during a routine inspection on Wilmshurst's private property.
When state authorities returned to Angels Camp, they found 10 guns illegal to possess under California standards.
Outside of the courthouse, Wilmshurst said he doesn't know how many guns he has or where he will turn them over to.
But he maintains his federal gun import license should supersede state law.
"Generally, federal licenses are left alone by the state," he said.
Wilmshurst said he had the guns at home because he and his longtime friend Michael Halligan, who died in 2002 during a Wyoming hunting trip, were going to go into business together selling the guns to law enforcement and airport security crews.
The machine gun was given to Wilmshurst by Halligan, who got it from a World War II veteran. Wilmshurst was supposed to store the gun, he said.
"I had started to build a firearms inventory prior to Michael's death and my stroke (in 1997). After the stroke, my life slowed down and the firearms inventory was put on the back burner and few firearms were purchased," Wilmshurst wrote in the pre-sentencing statement.
The five-page statement outlines Wilmshurst's gun history.
He wrote about going on hunting trips around Angels Camp as a teenager, receiving a federal firearms license for $2 while in high school and keeping a pistol in his glove box "to shoot a suffering deer or other animal on the roadway."
Wilmshurst said he keeps guns at his car dealership because, in the 1980s, a man with a gun tried to enter the dealership's body shop. He also noted that, in the 1970s, a man kidnapped and raped his office manager's wife.
When on his property between Angels Camp and Murphys, Wilmshurst said he carries a gun to protect himself and anyone with him from possible mountain lions.
"In the foothills, firearms are a part of life," he said. "Every person has a right to keep a firearm in his home for the protection of his family and himself. He also has a right to apply and carry a concealed weapon if approved."
Protection from mountain lions is real. There are many places in the west that you don't want to go without a gun big enough to stop a lion. Attacks on humans are on the increase.
Routine? Private property?
Such a "licensed gun dealer" better have more than just a "federal firearms import license" or his home will be the next one raided. At least the jack-booted-thugs did not kill Wilmshurst's family or pets or burn his home to the ground.
Wilmshurts had a class 3 license, which I believe authorized him to possess full-auto weapons in almost every state of the union, excepting Kalifornia, of course. Kalifornia believes that only the police and hollywood producers of Arnold movies need access to full-auto weapons.