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Timothy Emerson, whose right to own a firearm was taken away without a court hearing or notification, has been sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison.
Emerson's case went to the United States Supreme Court as a landmark Second Amendment decision. For the complete AP story archived on our website click "read more" or follow This Link to Cleveland.com/AP (link will eventually expire)
Texas man sentenced to prison for having gun while under protective order
The Associated Press 1/24/03 7:38 PM
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- A man was sentenced Friday to 2½ years in prison for owning guns while under a protective order -- a limitation on gun rights that an appeals court held was constitutionally acceptable.
The U.S. Supreme Court last June declined to hear arguments that Timothy Emerson should have been allowed to keep his guns under the Second Amendment right to "keep and bear arms."
Emerson was indicted after the restraining order was issued during his divorce in 1998. He owned several rifles and a handgun at the time.
A federal judge dismissed the charges, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the decision in 2001, ruling that an individual's right to bear arms could be restricted in some circumstances.
In Emerson's case and a similar one the Supreme Court also rejected, the Bush administration told the Supreme Court that the Second Amendment protects an individual as well as the collective right to gun ownership. That position reversed decades-old policy on the Second Amendment.
The administration, though, did not support Emerson's appeal, saying the Second Amendment right was still subject to reasonable restrictions.
The Supreme Court's decision not to hear the case sent it back to the district court, where Emerson was convicted in October.
Emerson's attorney, David Guinn, argued at trial his client shouldn't be punished for owning guns that were legal once his divorce was completed. He plans to appeal the sentence.
Emerson had faced a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.