[jjm2111]

This guy's lawyer was an idiot.

[jjm2111]

ping

[guitfiddlist]

Why bother having a judge, when all you need is a Judge-O-matic?

[verity]

He should havbe tried bow hunting!;~)

[Chancellor Palpatine]

So what? He's a convicted felon.

You ought to retitle the article as "ex con stupidly in possession of weapon gets the sentence he deserves".

[Copernicus]

Your NRA at work. "Project Exile"

Since it is a gun felony, he is likely to do more hard time than real rapists, thugs and thieves.

Best regards,

[AppyPappy]

I know I feel safer.

[twntaipan]

In Central Texas the deer are so thick you don't have to hunt them on your property; you can hunt them on your car hood.

[ctdonath2]

Misleading headline, implying the issue was hunting - considering that the state (at least NY) tells you what/when you can/cannot hunt on your own property.

[blackdog]

Let's see......$23,000 per year for 15 years? That's $345,000.

I'd say keeping me safe from this guy has been about the same cost to me directly as the thieves who stole my 401K money. Would the New York cops start arresting anyone from Wallstreet who goes hunting?

[ctdonath2]

You can become a felon for watching cable TV channels the CTV company gives you but you don't pay for (as in: you pay for "basic" service, they forget to put on a line filter, and you discover you're getting "standard" service when you turn on the TV).

Half the problem is that only one item on the Bill Of Rights is lost by felons (why not the others?).

The other half is that it's so stupidly easy to become a felon for truly petty, even accidental, "crimes".

[headsonpikes]

Well, that's some sort of justice, I suppose.

Just not the kind one associates with a free country.

[Lucas1]

When will the people of the United States wake Up? Mandatory Sentences are cruel and unusual punishment.

[HEY4QDEMS]

I'm sorry but championing a cause for a felon with a firearm only gives ammunition to the gun grabbers.

Felons should never be allowed to possess firearms as long as their felony record is still standing.

I support the right to bear arms, but only for the lawful citizenry.

If this guy has a felony record then he knows right well that his FID is no longer valid, his excuse is BS.

Lawful gun owners always say "If we outlaw guns, only outlaws will have them", now is the time to put your money where your mouth is.

If this man had turned his life around and lived an examplery life, and if ample time has passed, he could have motioned for expungement of his conviction before taking a gun in his hands knowing that he was breaking the law by doing so.

[chuknospam]

Btt

[Dane]

Here's the local coverage from 4/26/03.

Deer-hunting felon gets 15-year prison sentence

By Robert Baird
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, April 26, 2003

A Beaver County man who has three convictions for violent felonies complained Friday to a federal judge that he didn't know that he was prohibited from hunting deer with a rifle.

But U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry told Jack C. Altsman, 43, of Fourth Avenue, Beaver Falls, that he had, indeed, violated the armed career criminal provisions of the federal firearms law.

McVerry sentenced Altsman to a mandatory 15 years in prison for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

A deputy game commissioner spotted Altsman with a Remington rifle in Hovey, Armstrong County, after he had been deer hunting on Nov. 26, 2001.

"I wasn't in a bank with an automatic weapon. I wasn't car-jacking someone ... I wasn't in a bar with a gun. I was deer hunting," Altsman said.

McVerry said Altsman had pleaded guilty to the charges in November before U.S. District Judge Donald Lee, who has since retired.

McVerry ordered Altsman to serve three years on supervised release after he completes his prison term.

Altsman said he didn't go to trial and present a defense because he believed he would face additional time if convicted by a jury.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Picking said Altsman has previous convictions in two burglaries and for criminal attempt.

Altsman said his father, who has Alzheimer's disease, hunts and fishes, and Altsman is the only one who can take him hunting.

McVerry said the sentencing caused him "great difficulty," because Altsman was hunting and may not have known he wasn't permitted to possess a gun.

He told Altsman he had no alternative but to impose the mandatory 15-year sentence and that he could have been sentenced to nearly 19 years.

LINK

[snopercod]

I'd be interested to hear what you ladies have to say on this.

Personally, I am opposed to jailing people for victimless crimes. Had the man used a firearm in the commission of a crime, then sure, lock him up. But otherwise...

Let's recall that the man was convicted of burglary, which means he was not carrying a firearm at the time, and did not commit violence. Otherwise, he would have been charged with robbery, armed robbery, battery, rape, or something other than burglary. Hell, this could have been a pantie raid in college, we just don't know.

Burglary:

Definition - The unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft. For reporting purposes this definition includes: unlawful entry with intent to commit a larceny or felony; breaking and entering with intent to commit a larceny; housebreaking; safecracking; and all attempts to commit any of the aforementioned.

I would like to hear what the NRA says on this, too, since they are one of the biggest pushers of mandatory sentances for "gun crimes".

[PISANO]

Throw your new born into a trash can get a year and a half, kill 6 cats get 12 years, hunt on your own property (given the constitutionally protected right to bear arms) and get 15 years. Does all this seem like we are peering through the looking-glass of wonderland or not?

[Hodar]

Then there's just a little matter of the law, which states:

being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of title 18, United States Code, section 922(g)(1).

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/18/922.html

[SquirrelKing]

Speaking as a hunter and southern gentleman this is completely justified. Nothing against this man's character or ex-cons in general (he's paid his debt) but rules are rules and this one's got merit. I have had too many experiences of encountering irresponsible or nut-ball individuals with firearms to play loose with this idea. Just talk to any game warden and ask his or her opinion on the subject and you'll find out why they always have their hand on the butt of their pistol when they meet you in the woods.