Alphecca: Snatching Victory Where You Can

May 22, 2004

Snatching Victory Where You Can

From the Chicago Tribune comes this column by Eric Zorn about the acquittal of a young man for not carrying a firearm in his car properly:

Nearly two dozen gun-rights advocates in the viewing gallery of a Cook County courtroom burst into applause Monday afternoon after Judge James Linn found Roderick Pritchett, 26, not guilty of a felony weapons charge that could have sent him to prison for three years.

But the acquittal was not so much a victory for gun rights as it was a triumph for common sense--the proposition that whatever mistakes Pritchett may or may not have made in storing a semi-automatic pistol in his car, he's not a proper target in the war on gun violence.

Pritchett's case has been a cause celebre for Concealed Carry Inc. of Oak Brook since he sought out the group shortly after he was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in November 2002.

The defense and prosecution agreed during the 35-minute bench trial that Pritchett cooperated with police officers who pulled over his Ford Taurus station wagon in a routine traffic stop on the South Side, that he presented an Illinois Firearm Owner's Identification Card and volunteered that he had a handgun in the car stored in a zippered pouch

Read the whole thing of course but it was obvious that the judge was set against the defendent's lawyer's defense of need. Rather obvious that the cops who arrested Pritchett were, too. But the jury felt otherwise and justice was served.

Posted by Jeff Soyer at May 22, 2004 08:26 AM

Comments

Actually, according to the thread on the High Road, there was no jury. This was a trial just in front of the judge. He may not have accepted the defense of need, but he recognized that the defendant deserved the benefit of the doubt and acquitted him. The only real question was whether or not the gun was stored loaded - unloaded is legal, loaded is not. Two police officers said it was loaded, the defendant claimed it was unloaded. The police officers did not show up for the trial, but the defense attorney accepted their affidavits as evidence. The judge apparently decided that that was not sufficiently strong proof to convict.

Posted by: Roger Ritter at May 23, 2004 06:21 PM

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May 22, 2004

Snatching Victory Where You Can

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

My group sci-fi blog novel:

Colony: Alchibah