Posted: 5/16/2008 6:53:00 AM EDT
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I recently got arrested in grimes county(navasota) on my way to houston for possession of a stolen firearm. I traded a smith and wesson .38 special for a glock 27 owned by a friend of a friend. Got pulled over for speeding. Officer asked me to get out of the car and started to look through my car. I have an otherwise clean record besides a couple traffic tickets and am now facing a felony charge for really being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have had the gun for a couple months and have lost contact with the people I got it from. So how do I prove my case? I have no bill of sale and no person to point my finger at. Fucked up situation really. I lost a gun a bought legit, cost me over $500 to bond out and get my car out of impound, have a felony pending with my 2nd amendment rights in jeopardy, and had to sit in jail for nearly 2 days. Now who is the real victim? Out of curiosty I asked the trooper who arrested me if the gun in question would be returned to the rightful owner and he said woulld prolly sit in evidence room and then be destroyed. So what should I do? I called earlier in the week to see when my docket call would be and was told grand jury just met and I wasnt on there? I dont have several thousand dollars to go out and get a lawyer either. I called yesterday to check on the status of my pending felony and was told it was refused 4-19-08. Man am I glad too. Thanks for the help folks 
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somethings not right.
I remember some posts in the back about FTF transactions, of course all the buyers didn't want to do a bill of sale or anything, it violated their rights or something. If the seller insisted they would walk. Well, bill of sale works both ways. I always ask for a bill of sale as either buyer or seller, if it breaks the deal, fug 'em. |
Yes - ABSOLUTELY! I didn't have ~$50,000 for a divorce attorney either. In hindsight, I consider it money well spent to avoid an ass-fucking by the legal system. In your case it could also avoid a literal ass-fucking in PMITA federal prison. Lawyer up!! In case you didn't hear me the first two times: LAWYER UP!! |
However, you might want to talk to the guy in Wisconsin who was just sentenced to 30 months for an AR-15 that malfunctioned. 
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In his case it was a S&W not a Taurus, so the price difference is negligible. |
 Link please. To the OP, GET A LAWYER EVEN IF IT BANKRUPTS YOU TEMPORARILY. You will have shit left by the time the system is done with you so, cut a deal with a lawyer and pay him off over time or DO TIME, LOSE ALL YOUR GUNS and Then hope like hell you may get the judge to be nice enough to give your rights back .........someday. sw1217 |
Let me be really specific. Get a lawyer before you get indicted. There are things he can do BEFORE you get indicted. Post-indictment, you're world will be a lot worse, and you're lawyer will have things that he will not be able to do that he could have done PRE-INDICTMENT. Get a lawyer. You can find one that will take it either at a reduced fee or pro-bono, or at least will do it for cost. I'm doing a pro-bono here in MS (I try to do a few a year). |
I sure as hell would not want to bet my future on a Public Defender for anything above a misdemeanor jaywalking charge. Not to say they are all idiots but .gov simply does not seek out and hire the best possible attorneys for that job and they sure as hell do not give that office anywhere near the funding needed for discovery, scientific testing, expert witnesses etc. to be effective. The DA's office and the LEO get the lions share of that money to be used to lock people up. Money spent on the Public Defender is at best an afterthought in comparison. |
Not entirely true, depends upon the locale in question - the public defender's office often has very criminal defense experienced attorneys. |
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If you never gave consent to search you'll get off on technicality. Of course, a lot of winning in the legal system is not just being technically right, but about procedure. This is why you need a lawyer. Furthemore, I don't understand why being in possession of a stolen firearm is a crime w/o further evidence that actually links you to the theft, since one could be a completely innocent third party. I thought that they would just confiscate the weapon & take your info, not arrest & charge. For crap's sake, its not like the weapon wasn't serialized. |
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Let me guess. You explained everything to the cop and he still arrested you? Imagine that. Too late now, but: Speak The Fewest Utterances ETA: You are correct. This SUCKS. |
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GET A CRIMINAL TRIAL ATTORNEY NOW. Based on what you have posted, the search by the officer was illegal. You did not consent. He had no reasonable suspicion (based on what you have posted) to believe that a crime was afoot. The encounter between you and the officer should have lasted only as long as it takes to write you a summons for speeding. Any detention beyond that, without consent, is illegal, let alone the search. Hurry up and get an attorney. |
That's sounds like good advise, especially after hearing that you can get arrested for merely having a gun that was stolen even years ago. It makes me glad that all the guns I own so far I bought from DLR myself. On another note, not only should you get off scott free (except loss of said hot gun), you should also be able to bring civil suit against the department for wrongful arrest etc. You can use the freedom of information act to get a copy of the cruiser video cam. Then you can make sure that you didn't in fact give the officer in the midst of being cocerned and intimidated, then you can use it as evidence and sue the crap out of them. It is almost hard for me to believe that he didn't get or even ask consent to search. How could a cop be so stupid??? Did he ask you to get your registration and you then volunteered to him there was a HG in the glove box, then he asked you to step out and he then got in car to retrive HG himself? Cops are doing this new thing now where they run the fuck up to your window almost before you put it in park instead of sitting there for a few minutes running your plates etc first. I can think of a few reason for this. The stateegery we have to take is to make sure not to pull over too quick and that everything is legally placed in your car and that you won't have to open your glove box where there is a gun to get your registration etc. I always used to get my registration and license out ahead of time as a courtecy to the officer so that he would have to feel nervous when I reached for my glove box etc. But now, the way they materialize at your window, you need to make sure your registration & gun is not in same place before they turn on their lights. |
for florida: http://pas.fdle.state.fl.us/pas/item/searchGuns.a |