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Criminal Defense & Personal Injury Attorneys For The Tacoma Area

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Criminal Defense & Personal Injury Attorneys
For The Tacoma Area

Gun Attorney

On Behalf of | Feb 5, 2015 | Criminal Defense

Facepalm

Cops jumping to conclusions? What could go wrong with that?

Gustave Flaubert said that “Stupidity lies in wanting to draw conclusions.” I just finished a criminal trial for my client in which the cops and “victims” couldn’t wait to jump to conclusions.

The basic facts are that my client was visiting a buddy who lives in unincorporated Pierce County where homeowners are allowed to shoot on their property as long as they don’t endanger anybody else. So client was shooting a 9mm pistol 300 yards from his neighbor’s home..in a different direction…with 600′ of woods between the properties. While he was shooting, someone elsewhere was shooting a rifle…in the direction of the neighbor’s house.

The poor neighbors were terrified trying to hide from the rifle fire that peppered the trees around their property, as well as their home. As there was a 200 yard stand of trees that concealed the neighbor’s home, they could only guess who was pulling the rifle trigger. Cops were called and they went to the property where my client was found standing with his buddy chatting.

My client made the mistake of telling Deputies that he was firing his pistol earlier in the day. That was enough for them to conclude that the bullets striking the neighbor’s home obviously came from my client’s pistol. The neighbors likewise concluded that my client must have been the shooter even though they never saw anybody firing any gun. The fact that my client didn’t have a rifle, and the fact that all the damage to the neighbor’s home was caused by rifle fire didn’t matter to the neighbors or the cops. My client and his buddy were charged with Reckless Endangerment.

My Client is a retired Air Force Security Officer who has been working for the Transportation Safety Administration since just after 9/11. He was also 10 months from retirement, and a guilty conviction would have cost him his pension.

We were fortunate, however, to have a couple of great witnesses. We hired an expert witness who analyzed the bullet damage and concluded that it was caused by rifle fire. He further testified that based on the bullet paths of rounds that struck the neighbor’s home, it was unlikely that my client or his buddy could have fired the rounds. Our second great witness was the client. He has 35 years of law enforcement/security experience, and a lifetime of firearms safety training. He was fantastic on the stand. As a result, he and his buddy were quickly acquitted by the jury.

It’s unfortunate that my client had to pay gun attorney to fight charges that the State should never have filed, but that’s the world we live in. We’re surrounded by stupid people leaping to stupid conclusions. Fortunately, the jury wasn’t stupid.