I heard a revealing and scary exchange in court today between a defense attorney friend of mine and a prosecutor. My friend was representing a 78 year old man from Pa. The guy was traveling through one of our local speed traps where the speed limit drops from 55 to 35 to 25 within less than 1/4 mile. The guy (with out of state tags) gets pulled for 47 in a 25. When the driver reaches into his glove box for his insurance card and registration the officer sees a handgun which obviously changed the entire situation. Once the guy was removed from the vehicle and cuffed he was able to explain to the officer that he has a concealed carry permit from Pa. Turns out that the guy has been licensed since 1964, has an absolutely spotless record and at one time held a top security clearance working for a civilian defense contractor. Before he started his trip he actually called his local Commonwealth Attorney's office and was told that Pa recognized Delaware concealed carry permit and that it was reciprocal.
The cop takes him into custody and after being in custody for 1 1/2 hrs. the cop determines that Pa is NOT on the list of states that Delaware recognizes. The old guy gets locked up for Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon and Possession of a Firearm during commission of a felony (a minimum mandatory 2 year sentence if convicted).
Today was the preliminary hearing date. Now at this point you'd think that the prosecutor is going to see the inherent unfairness of all this. You'd think wrong. The prosecutor's offer, which I heard myself was this:
A) Forfeit the weapon,
B) Permanently and irrevocably surrender his Pa concealed carry license,
C) Plead guilty to 22 over
Take it or have the matter go forward to a trial in superior Court.
Now the scary part. This wasn't just any prosecutor just being a prick, no this guy is our "gun" deputy. The federal government funds this guy's position with the Delaware Dept of Justice for the purpose of prosecuting gun crime. You can guess how his effectiveness is measured. In the course of the conversation with my friend I actually heard the prosecutor say "Only the police should have guns". By the way, our Attorney General, this guy's boss, is Beau Biden. He is Phony Joey's son (one of the things our vice president is called in his home state).
I think that they are coming any which way they can.
The cop takes him into custody and after being in custody for 1 1/2 hrs. the cop determines that Pa is NOT on the list of states that Delaware recognizes. The old guy gets locked up for Carrying a Concealed Deadly Weapon and Possession of a Firearm during commission of a felony (a minimum mandatory 2 year sentence if convicted).
Today was the preliminary hearing date. Now at this point you'd think that the prosecutor is going to see the inherent unfairness of all this. You'd think wrong. The prosecutor's offer, which I heard myself was this:
A) Forfeit the weapon,
B) Permanently and irrevocably surrender his Pa concealed carry license,
C) Plead guilty to 22 over
Take it or have the matter go forward to a trial in superior Court.
Now the scary part. This wasn't just any prosecutor just being a prick, no this guy is our "gun" deputy. The federal government funds this guy's position with the Delaware Dept of Justice for the purpose of prosecuting gun crime. You can guess how his effectiveness is measured. In the course of the conversation with my friend I actually heard the prosecutor say "Only the police should have guns". By the way, our Attorney General, this guy's boss, is Beau Biden. He is Phony Joey's son (one of the things our vice president is called in his home state).
I think that they are coming any which way they can.
