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From the Memphis Commercial-Appeal
Leaving aside the issue of whether passengers ought to be able to carry on aircraft, it's pretty bad when your attorney's defense is based on the argument, "He's a moron!"
Gun at airport just an error
N'west passenger found not guilty
By Shirley Downing
[email protected]
July 10, 2003
A federal court jury believed a Greenwood, Miss., man who testified he simply forgot he had a 9mm semi-automatic revolver in his suitcase when he was stopped by security guards at Memphis International Airport earlier this year.
Wednesday afternoon, Oma Cox, 47, was found not guilty of attempting to board an aircraft with a concealed, loaded firearm at the end of a two-day trial.
"It feels real good," computer consultant Cox said afterward. "A lot of pressure is off and now I can go about my normal activity."
Cox is one of about a dozen people charged since the 9/11 terrorist attacks with gun or weapons possession at the airport. Prosecution has resulted in four guilty pleas, one conviction, one hung jury and two diversions. The rest are pending, said Leigh Anne Jordon, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
Cox was caught Jan. 3 in the airport security check shortly before he was to board a Northwest Airlines flight to Boston. He said he'd forgotten he put the gun in the navy blue canvas suitcase two days earlier when his girlfriend packed clothing for the trip.
He'd been distracted before the trip by personal and business problems, Cox said.
But federal prosecutor Fred Godwin said Cox was much too bright for such an excuse.
"Mr. Cox is certainly a person who can read,'' Godwin said as he held up multiple pictures of airport signs that warn it is illegal to bring guns and other weapons inside the building.
He said Cox had resolved his personal problems by the time he entered the airport. Godwin also noted that the night before the arrest, Cox had been out dining and drinking with a friend.
Cox, who often carried a gun for protection when he traveled, ignored the warnings because he felt he could "talk his way out" and return the weapon to the car if caught, Godwin said.
Defense attorney Michael Scholl said if Cox were so smart, he would have known how to legally transport a weapon instead of sticking it in a canvas suitcase, wrapped in a T-shirt.
"Every witness said he told them he forgot about the weapon, every last one of them,'' Scholl said in the closing argument.
Leaving aside the issue of whether passengers ought to be able to carry on aircraft, it's pretty bad when your attorney's defense is based on the argument, "He's a moron!"
Gun at airport just an error
N'west passenger found not guilty
By Shirley Downing
[email protected]
July 10, 2003
A federal court jury believed a Greenwood, Miss., man who testified he simply forgot he had a 9mm semi-automatic revolver in his suitcase when he was stopped by security guards at Memphis International Airport earlier this year.
Wednesday afternoon, Oma Cox, 47, was found not guilty of attempting to board an aircraft with a concealed, loaded firearm at the end of a two-day trial.
"It feels real good," computer consultant Cox said afterward. "A lot of pressure is off and now I can go about my normal activity."
Cox is one of about a dozen people charged since the 9/11 terrorist attacks with gun or weapons possession at the airport. Prosecution has resulted in four guilty pleas, one conviction, one hung jury and two diversions. The rest are pending, said Leigh Anne Jordon, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
Cox was caught Jan. 3 in the airport security check shortly before he was to board a Northwest Airlines flight to Boston. He said he'd forgotten he put the gun in the navy blue canvas suitcase two days earlier when his girlfriend packed clothing for the trip.
He'd been distracted before the trip by personal and business problems, Cox said.
But federal prosecutor Fred Godwin said Cox was much too bright for such an excuse.
"Mr. Cox is certainly a person who can read,'' Godwin said as he held up multiple pictures of airport signs that warn it is illegal to bring guns and other weapons inside the building.
He said Cox had resolved his personal problems by the time he entered the airport. Godwin also noted that the night before the arrest, Cox had been out dining and drinking with a friend.
Cox, who often carried a gun for protection when he traveled, ignored the warnings because he felt he could "talk his way out" and return the weapon to the car if caught, Godwin said.
Defense attorney Michael Scholl said if Cox were so smart, he would have known how to legally transport a weapon instead of sticking it in a canvas suitcase, wrapped in a T-shirt.
"Every witness said he told them he forgot about the weapon, every last one of them,'' Scholl said in the closing argument.
