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Protecting a Gun Law, or a Family
By CLYDE HABERMAN
N all likelihood, most New Yorkers would find it hard not to sympathize with Ronald Dixon. No, that's too soft. In all likelihood, most New Yorkers would find it close to impossible not to sympathize with Mr. Dixon, or question his right to do what he did.
Here's what happened one December morning in his two-story house in Canarsie, Brooklyn. His account is uncontested by law enforcement officials.
Mr. Dixon was upstairs, in bed, when he heard a noise in the hallway. Half asleep, he opened his eyes and saw a man at the top of the stairs heading toward the bedroom of Mr. Dixon's 2-year-old son, Kyle.
That was enough for the father. He grabbed a 9-millimeter pistol that he kept in a closet, walked toward the man and asked what he was doing there. This man, Mr. Dixon said, ran at him, screaming. That's when he pulled the trigger. He shot the intruder twice, wounding him seriously but not mortally.
Other points are worth noting.
Mr. Dixon, 27, is your basic straight arrow, a Navy veteran who works two jobs as a computer specialist to provide for his girlfriend and their two small children. The man accused of being the intruder, Ivan Thompson, 40, is a career lowlife with a blocklong record of burglaries and other crimes. If convicted this time, he could be hammering out license plates for years to come.
Case closed, you might think. But there is one more critical detail:
Mr. Dixon's gun was illegal. He had no New York license for it. He also lives in a borough whose district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, considers the prosecution of illegal-gun charges a supreme virtue.
Mr. Hynes wants Mr. Dixon to do jail time — not much, but at least some. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge against him, Mr. Dixon could get as much as a year. Mr. Hynes is offering a plea bargain that would involve four weekends, tops, on Rikers Island.
"Nobody," the district attorney said, "is going to get a bye" on a gun charge. "Everybody is going to do some time.
"There have to be some consequences. The Dixon case is a perfect example of what we're trying to do. We're sympathetic. No question, he had the right to shoot the guy in his house. But he had no right to have an illegal weapon."
There are disputes over this pistol. Mr. Dixon says he bought it lawfully in Florida and was in the process of registering it in New York. But Mr. Hynes says there is no record of any attempt to get a permit here. In fact, he says, an investigation in Florida has cast shadows over exactly how Mr. Dixon got the gun.
But the real issue, unchallenged by Mr. Dixon and his lawyer, Andrew Friedman, is that New York's gun laws were broken. There will be no plea bargain, however, Mr. Friedman said. This week, he asked a Criminal Court judge in Brooklyn to toss out the charges. A decision was put off until next month.
Pleading guilty, Mr. Dixon says, would leave him, unfairly, with a criminal record that could damage his career. His lawyer adds that encouragement has come from many quarters, including judges in off-the-record remarks. The district attorney's office acknowledges having received hundreds of e-mail messages condemning it for pursuing a man who had defended his home and family.
AFTER an article about the case appeared in The Daily News a few weeks ago, Mr. Dixon became a darling of right-wing talk show hosts and Second Amendment fire breathers. Mr. Friedman said his client was not entirely comfortable in such company, but would take the support.
"You have to allow for exceptions," the lawyer said. "I don't think the D.A. will be sending a message that it's O.K. for everyone to carry a gun if he were to step back and make an exception in this unique case. Why is the D.A. not exercising his discretion, like he does in other situations, not to prosecute? And why is he prosecuting so aggressively?"
The reason is simple, Mr. Hynes replied. Aggressive enforcement of the gun laws has helped bring New York's crime rate down. In his borough, one result is that illegal-gun charges have been cut in half over the last decade, to 1,640 in 2002 from 3,362 in 1992. Still, plenty of guns are left in Brooklyn, which had nearly 500 shootings last year.
Turning a blind eye, even to a figure as sympathetic as Mr. Dixon, would indeed send a message, Mr. Hynes said. If this man is given a pass, what then? Does everyone get to own an illegal gun because, after all, you never know who may turn up someday at the top of the stairs?
See my response to the above.
By CLYDE HABERMAN
N all likelihood, most New Yorkers would find it hard not to sympathize with Ronald Dixon. No, that's too soft. In all likelihood, most New Yorkers would find it close to impossible not to sympathize with Mr. Dixon, or question his right to do what he did.
Here's what happened one December morning in his two-story house in Canarsie, Brooklyn. His account is uncontested by law enforcement officials.
Mr. Dixon was upstairs, in bed, when he heard a noise in the hallway. Half asleep, he opened his eyes and saw a man at the top of the stairs heading toward the bedroom of Mr. Dixon's 2-year-old son, Kyle.
That was enough for the father. He grabbed a 9-millimeter pistol that he kept in a closet, walked toward the man and asked what he was doing there. This man, Mr. Dixon said, ran at him, screaming. That's when he pulled the trigger. He shot the intruder twice, wounding him seriously but not mortally.
Other points are worth noting.
Mr. Dixon, 27, is your basic straight arrow, a Navy veteran who works two jobs as a computer specialist to provide for his girlfriend and their two small children. The man accused of being the intruder, Ivan Thompson, 40, is a career lowlife with a blocklong record of burglaries and other crimes. If convicted this time, he could be hammering out license plates for years to come.
Case closed, you might think. But there is one more critical detail:
Mr. Dixon's gun was illegal. He had no New York license for it. He also lives in a borough whose district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, considers the prosecution of illegal-gun charges a supreme virtue.
Mr. Hynes wants Mr. Dixon to do jail time — not much, but at least some. If convicted of the misdemeanor charge against him, Mr. Dixon could get as much as a year. Mr. Hynes is offering a plea bargain that would involve four weekends, tops, on Rikers Island.
"Nobody," the district attorney said, "is going to get a bye" on a gun charge. "Everybody is going to do some time.
"There have to be some consequences. The Dixon case is a perfect example of what we're trying to do. We're sympathetic. No question, he had the right to shoot the guy in his house. But he had no right to have an illegal weapon."
There are disputes over this pistol. Mr. Dixon says he bought it lawfully in Florida and was in the process of registering it in New York. But Mr. Hynes says there is no record of any attempt to get a permit here. In fact, he says, an investigation in Florida has cast shadows over exactly how Mr. Dixon got the gun.
But the real issue, unchallenged by Mr. Dixon and his lawyer, Andrew Friedman, is that New York's gun laws were broken. There will be no plea bargain, however, Mr. Friedman said. This week, he asked a Criminal Court judge in Brooklyn to toss out the charges. A decision was put off until next month.
Pleading guilty, Mr. Dixon says, would leave him, unfairly, with a criminal record that could damage his career. His lawyer adds that encouragement has come from many quarters, including judges in off-the-record remarks. The district attorney's office acknowledges having received hundreds of e-mail messages condemning it for pursuing a man who had defended his home and family.
AFTER an article about the case appeared in The Daily News a few weeks ago, Mr. Dixon became a darling of right-wing talk show hosts and Second Amendment fire breathers. Mr. Friedman said his client was not entirely comfortable in such company, but would take the support.
"You have to allow for exceptions," the lawyer said. "I don't think the D.A. will be sending a message that it's O.K. for everyone to carry a gun if he were to step back and make an exception in this unique case. Why is the D.A. not exercising his discretion, like he does in other situations, not to prosecute? And why is he prosecuting so aggressively?"
The reason is simple, Mr. Hynes replied. Aggressive enforcement of the gun laws has helped bring New York's crime rate down. In his borough, one result is that illegal-gun charges have been cut in half over the last decade, to 1,640 in 2002 from 3,362 in 1992. Still, plenty of guns are left in Brooklyn, which had nearly 500 shootings last year.
Turning a blind eye, even to a figure as sympathetic as Mr. Dixon, would indeed send a message, Mr. Hynes said. If this man is given a pass, what then? Does everyone get to own an illegal gun because, after all, you never know who may turn up someday at the top of the stairs?
See my response to the above.
