cuchulainn
Member
from the Seneca Advertiser Tribune
http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/Text/N021403a.html
http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/Text/N021403a.html
FEBRUARY 14, 2003
Prosecutor seeks stay of decision on gun law
Prosecutor seeks stay of decision on gun law
By Ryan Good
Staff Writer
[email protected]
Seneca County's prosecutor has taken the first step in appealing a decision that made Ohio's law against carrying a concealed weapon unconstitutional in the county.
County Prosecutor Ken Egbert Jr. filed a motion Thursday afternoon in Seneca County Common Pleas Court asking Judge Michael P. Kelbley for an emergency stay on the decision he issued Tuesday declaring the law unconstitutional.
"I feel compelled to ask the trial court first," Egbert said.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.
The motion states that an appeal of the decision will be filed with the Third District Court of Appeals in Lima no later than today.
Egbert also said that if his motion is denied, he will be taking up that matter with the appeals court also.
Kelbley issued the ruling in the case of a Fostoria woman charged with carrying a concealed weapon.
The charge stemmed from a June 2002 traffic stop at Springville Avenue and SR 18 in Fostoria.
A state patrol trooper found a 9mm pistol under the woman's seat while taking an inventory of the car's contents, court papers show. The woman said she needed the gun for protection because she had been raped.
She asked Kelbley in November 2002 to dismiss her case because the law was unconstitutional.
In the motion, Egbert asks for the stay because it allows an adult to carry a firearm without any type of permit.
He also cites a possible unequal application of concealed-carry legislation based on which judge is assigned to hear any such cases in the future, and an added risk to law enforcement personnel.
The decision should be stayed "to avoid all of these unintended consequences while the issue of the law's constitutionality is reviewed at the appellate level," the motion states.
