Articles Posted in Gun Possession

On June 15, 1982, Joseph C was convicted of robbery in the first degree, robbery in the second degree and criminal possession of stolen property in the third degree in the Supreme Court of Richmond County, New York. Mr. C’s attorney appealed the conviction to the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Second Department.

Mr. C’s appeal centered on the trial judge’s alleged failure to charge the jury that the firearm used in the crime was not actually loaded and therefore, was not capable of causing serious bodily injury or death to the robbery victim. According to his defense lawyer, the judge should have used this information to charge the jury with an affirmative defense to robbery. Had the crime not involved any weapon at all, Mr. C may have only been charged with larceny or a similar crime involving property theft.

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John G was charged with one count of robbery in the first degree stemming from an incident that occurred on May 22, 2008. In that incident, Mr. G entered the Commerce Bank branch on Hugenot Avenue in Richmond County, New York and handed a nearby teller a note. The note stated he had a gun and she was to turn over the contents of her till without speaking or drawing attention to herself. The teller filled a bag that Mr. G had provided with approximately $1,810. Mr. G then left the bank and was arrested for the crime several months later. The teller never actually saw a weapon in Mr. G’s possession and it was later established that the only evidence that he did have a gun was the note he had written.

The prosecutor presented this evidence to the grand jury, which resulted in an indictment for first degree robbery being entered against Mr. Gt. His attorney then filed an omnibus motion with the Supreme Court of Richmond County, requesting that the first degree robbery count be removed from the indictment in favor of a third degree robbery charge. The Supreme Court granted Mr. G’s motion and the charge was reduced accordingly.

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Timothy M was indicted on first degree robbery charges stemming from an incident that occurred on January 5, 1992. In that incident, Mr. M, along with a group of approximately 15 others, was walking along Jefferson Avenue in Rochester, New York. The group happened upon Charles G, an individual known in the neighborhood as a frequent shoplifter. At the time, Mr. G was holding a large plastic garbage bag, which apparently contained stolen clothing. Mr. M told the other members of his group that he was going to steal the bag from Mr. G. One of the boys in the group had a gun that he fired as Mr. M attempted to steal the bag from Mr. G. Additional shots were fired and Mr. G died of a gunshot wound to the neck.

Mr. M was charged with two counts of second degree murder and two counts of first degree robbery. At trial, Mr. M’s attorney asked the judge to charge the jury regarding attempted robbery in the first degree as a lesser included offense. No witnesses testified that Mr. M was in possession of the gun and he was subsequently convicted of attempted robbery and acquitted of the other counts.

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Every day the cases of robbery can be deemed as numerous. In fact, every rep does not run out of such cases to handle for legal proceedings. According to the Penal Law, any individual can be considered guilty of robbery if he steals the property not his own with force. Also it involves the possible display of what seems to be a threatening tool like a pistol or any other kind of firearm. But did you know that even if you do not hold an actual gun and yet you somehow impose that you have one just to carry out your robbery plan can still convict you of the crime?

This is what was discovered with the case of Vincent K as researched by a New York grand larceny lawyer. Vincent admitted that he stole US money, jewelry, a wallet and subway tokens from Henry L last October 14, 1978. He stated in his testimony that to convince the victim to give him what he wants from him, he inserted his hand inside his pocket making it appear that he has a gun ready. But the truth of the matter is that he was actually unarmed. With the trial court ready to hear the plea, they are to decide whether the crime of robbery committed is in the second degree.

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On the night of December 24th, 1992, Martin B and Kevin D entered the parking lot of a hotel in Queens to make a payroll delivery. Both B and D were off-duty police officers who were moonlighting for the Mount Vernon Money Center. After parking their vehicle, B walked to the security booth while D stayed behind to unload the money bags. A grey sedan appeared without warning and came to a stop behind B and D’s vehicle. A man got out of the car and with what appeared to be an automatic weapon, forced the two men to lie face down on the ground. Several more armed men then exited the sedan.

At some point, B, who was lying on the pavement, began to move towards the security booth. He was shot multiple times in the back. B attempted to fire back at his assailants but lost his weapon. He was able to make it inside the hotel, where he subsequently collapsed. The gunmen took D’s weapon from his waistband and proceeded to ransack the vehicle. The armed men then got into their car and drove away from the hotel. D then found that the payroll delivery and both his and B’s weapons were missing.

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With every robbery case, it is an important issue to clear whether the ones accused carried a certain kind of firearm during the actual crime. To learn more about it, a competent lawyer discusses the cases of Freddie and Hector M who were both being proven to have carried such deadly firearms before their convictions could be elevated. The proofs presented were sufficient but they both posed their appeals.

With the details gathered by a cop, the robbery case of Freddie L took place in Manhattan in October 1984. They declared a stick up to two female friends and the victim walking the street. The victim testified that when the stick up was announced, Freddie gestured in a way as if he had a gun since he put his hand inside his vest. When he gave Freddie the item he was asking from him, he immediately ran from the scene with his other companion. The victim also testified that he knew Freddie since they were able to play basketball once years ago. Hence, it was easy for the victim to identify him.

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John G entered a bank, walked up to a teller station, and handed her a handwritten note that said, “I have a gun, Fill the bag. Don’t say anything or I’ll shoot”. The teller filled the bag with money she had at her station, and John took it and walked out.

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On August 11, 1988, at approximately 8:00 p.m., Nigel G and Terence O were working at a game booth at Coney Island amusement park. Suddenly, two individuals identified by G as Rodolfo G and an accomplice, Lonnie Jones, approached him. G also testified that G stuck a hard object in his back and Lonnie J demanded money and jewelry from him. G did not comply. Terence O moved to the back of the booth, whereupon Lonnie J punched G in the face. Next, G turned toward Lonnie J and G shot G in the back. Both perpetrators then fled without making additional efforts to steal property.

Rodolfo G was convicted after a jury trial of attempted murder in the second degree, attempted robbery in the first degree and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. Came October 30, 1989, Rodolfo G was sentenced a second violent felony offender to ten to twenty years imprisonment for the attempted murder and five to ten years for the attempted robbery, to run consecutively to each other. G was sentenced to five to ten years on the weapons possession count to run concurrently with the other sentences.

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