NY Attempted Criminal Possession of a Handgun

[Sebastian the Ibis]

Reason has a great article on the stupidity of NY's law on attempted criminal possession of a hangun, as it applied to Lil Wayne's arrest:

http://reason.com/blog/2010/11/04/lil-wayne-out-of-prison-gun-co

I never knew that such a riddiculous law existed.

 

[zhyla]

Fantastic article. But what they really need is to criminalize the subconcious desire to possess illegal weapons. "I never knew I wanted a full auto MP5 with suppressor until I was jailed for it."

 

[Birdmang]

I skimmed over it but basically he was jailed and the law on the books can get someone for attempting to posses a firearm, like "I was going to buy this gun/heroin/drug/illicit item but did not." So the "was going to" put him in jail for 8 months?

Did I get it right??

 

[Sebastian the Ibis]

Did I get it right??

Yup. When you boil down all the fancy language that is what you are left with.

 

[belercous]

Lil' Wayne was originally charged with possession, not "attempted possession." He admitted that he possessed the gun, and supposedly there was also DNA evidence to support the original charge. He plead to "attempted possession" in order to avoid a trial and get a lighter sentence.

Anyone think he couldn't have hired the best lawyers to fight it? Whether the law was just or not, he was guilty of "possession" but plead to attempted possession" in order to get a lighter sentence.

Under the law, "attempted (whatever crimminal act)" requires that the accused take some active/material step toward committing the act. [This does not hold true for "conspiracy" charges wherein only exchanged words are neccessary.]

Look at it this way; What if someone were caught with 50 lbs. of black powder, cannon fuse, the floor-plan of the parking garage garage at a shopping mall and a manifesto deriding America's "greedy capitalist society." No crime has been committed, so we should not charge the individual with anything? I suspect we wouldn't hear much of a hew & cry about his/her civil rights.

Admittedly, it is difficult to get into the mind of another, but a line must be drawn somewhere when possible crimes are discovered beforehand. Life does not always present us with black & white situations and the law must set limits somewhere.

 

[Bonesinium]

Look at it this way; What if someone were caught with 50 lbs. of black powder, cannon fuse, the floor-plan of the parking garage garage at a shopping mall and a manifesto deriding America's "greedy capitalist society." No crime has been committed, so we should not charge the individual with anything?

You are comparing possessing something, with evidence to support, something to be used in a crime. Simply possessing a gun does not imply he is going to use it in a crime.

 

[brboyer]

Lil' Wayne was originally charged with possession, not "attempted possession." He admitted that he possessed the gun, and supposedly there was also DNA evidence to support the original charge. He plead to "attempted possession" in order to avoid a trial and get a lighter sentence.

Anyone think he couldn't have hired the best lawyers to fight it? Whether the law was just or not, he was guilty of "possession" but plead to attempted possession" in order to get a lighter sentence.

Under the law, "attempted (whatever crimminal act)" requires that the accused take some active/material step toward committing the act. [This does not hold true for "conspiracy" charges wherein only exchanged words are neccessary.]

Look at it this way; What if someone were caught with 50 lbs. of black powder, cannon fuse, the floor-plan of the parking garage garage at a shopping mall and a manifesto deriding America's "greedy capitalist society." No crime has been committed, so we should not charge the individual with anything? I suspect we wouldn't hear much of a hew & cry about his/her civil rights.

Admittedly, it is difficult to get into the mind of another, but a line must be drawn somewhere when possible crimes are discovered beforehand. Life does not always present us with black & white situations and the law must set limits somewhere.

No crime has been committed, so we should not charge the individual with anything?

Correct.

 

[belercous]

It is a crime in all jurisdictions just to possess a handgun w/o the proper qualifications.

Again, do you think that Lil' Wayne couldn't afford the best lawyers? He plead to a lesser charge, not the original charge of actual possession.

 

[iibao]

I thought NYC had the 3 years minimum for all gun charges. I remember seeing those posters when I was living there.

belercous, I would believe he could afford the best lawyers in NYC. I guess, he didn't get what he paid for.

 

[belercous]

Obviously he got what he paid for. See your post stating that all gun charges in NYC have a 3 yr. min. Plea bargains avoid the minimum sentence, especially when one pleads to a lesser charge.

In the Supreme Courts of NY the Judge most often takes the D.A.'s recommendation on plea-bargains, it allows the courts to function.

If a judge didn't do such, there would be uncertainty in the court system. This would generate fewer pleas, and thus more trials which would back-log the courts, which in turn would result in more defendants demanding a speedy trial thereby leading to faster trials, which will ultimately get defendants getting convictions remanded to the trial court due to judicial error. And such re-trials willl feed the system even more.

I liken this situation to "feed-back" from a hollow-body guitar ran "full-knob on" thru an amplifier cranked to max. Strange things happen at overload.

{BTW, the trial courts in NY are called "Supreme Courts." There are lower courts as well,but the appellate level state courts in NY are called the "Appellate Division" [oddly enough]. The highest level court in NY is the "Court Of Appeals." And yes, the nomenclature is weird. Anyone not from the East Coast want try to pronounce "Schuylkill" correctly?}

 

[Art Eatman]

I read one time that the Borough of Queens had courtrooms, personnel and budget for about 450 felony trials per year. However, grand juries commonly returned some 4,800 felony indictments per year.

That oughta explain a major reason for plea bargains...

 

[invisiblem0nst3r]

why does he get off? he just had charges for having cocaine, x and a gun on his tour bus in yuma,az

 

[belercous]

All crimminal court systems work on the plea bargain system. If they didn't the courts would be so back-logged that 90% of the crimminals would get off scot-free under the 6th Amen. right to a speedy trial as the resources aren't there to give everyone a trial.

Plea bargains give the prosecution a win and defendants a lesser sentence than they would get if they lost at trial. Many jurisdictions use "suspended imposition of sentence" [or the equivalent] in plea bargains.
Also, mandatory minimums often don't hold up under review as they remove discretion from the trial judge who is in a better position to see mitigating circumstances than is the legislature who mandated "X sentence for Y crime." Does anyone really think that justice will be served if a 78 yr. old grandmother gets 3 years in prison for illegal possession of a firearm for her deceased husband's snubbie hidden in the trunk of the family sedan?

 

[J.R.W.]

This will end well. Post reported.