Posted on 12/02/2010 12:16:26 PM PST by onyx
In New Jersey, residents who want to transport firearms legally must request a permit from a local law enforcement office and produce a letter stating why it is necessary for them to carry a gun. In other words, New Jerseyans have to prove need before exercising what many Americans consider a constitutional right.
Twenty-seven-year-old Brian Aitken is learning that the hard way. Arrested in 2009 when police officers found two handguns locked and unloaded in the trunk of his car, Aitken was just sentenced in August to seven years in prison.
Now, protesters across the state are organizing a push for an appeal for the court’s ruling. A “Free Brian Aitken” Facebook page has almost 7,000 fans, the website briandaitken.com was built and a rally will be held Dec. 12, in Towns River, N.J. Aitken’s family is asking Chris Christie to grant clemency — gun control just might be the next test conservatives throw at the New Jersey governor.
A pardon from Christie is far from assured, even if he does have fairly established, conservative credentials.
During his 2009 campaign, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity, “Listen, at the end of the day, what I support are common sense laws that will allow people to protect themselves. But I also am very concerned about the safety of our police officers on the streets. Very concerned. And I want to make sure that we don’t have an abundance of guns out there.”
Nothing about Aitken’s past or history suggests he was a threat to the safety of police, or anyone else for that matter. After separating from his wife in 2008, Aitken moved from Colorado to his native home of New Jersey the end of that year, to be closer to his son.
Shortly thereafter, in January 2009, Aitken – according to one account – “became distraught, muttered something to his mother, and left his parents’ home in Mount Laurel, NJ,” after his ex-wife canceled a visit with their son.
At that point, his mother, who is a trained social worker, called the police out of concern. That’s when things went downhill for Aitken. After the police caught up with him, they determined he wasn’t a threat to his or anyone else’s safety, but proceeded to search his car anyway. Upon finding the guns, police pressed weapons charges against Aitken.
His family and supporters are arguing that not only did Aitken obtain the guns legally, but he was also exempted from New Jersey’s guns laws because he was simply moving residences. They also say the judge who tried the case, Justice James Morley, ignored supporting evidence of that.
How about Portly Giulani?
Like that one.
Some have this guy as the Great GOP Hope.....anyone so virulently anti-2A should not even be considered IMO.
The first line in the article is not accurate. One does not need a permit to transport a gun that is unloaded and locked in the trunk (as described in the article linked below) under certain exemptions which included traveling to and from a range, and moving from one residence to another.
Actually Brian Aitken should have been covered by the ‘moving’ exemption which is one of the exemptions listed in TITLE 2C - THE NEW JERSEY CODE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, 2C:39-6 Exemptions. 2C:36-6e addresses “between one place of business or residence and another when moving”.
He was in the process of moving from out of state to NJ to be closer to his son.
More details here:
http://reason.com/archives/2010/11/15/brian-aitkens-mistake
My guess is the prosecutor decided that since Aiken stopped in his mothers driveway while traveling from out of state to his new residence in NJ, he wasn’t covered by the moving exemption.
His original trial attorney is listed as Richard Gilbert; his appeal attorney is Evan Nappen, an extremely astute expert in gun law, who works with the NJ NRA.
These thugs in Trenton are openly flashing their guns and killing people, yet this poor guy is rotting in prison for transporting them. Absolutely pathetic.
Must see video from the History Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfeskFDUdgY
It's even worse than that. The presiding judge refused to allow the jury to even be informed about the moving exemption by the defense. The guy was railroaded.
This pic is from Christie’s run for the state assembly.
“She’s a “trained” social worker whatever that means.”
It means that she is adept at lying and manipulating documentation.
MOM,WTF?
I wrote the reporter asking her to find out and print the name of the judge who passed the sentence, if he was elected. If appointed, the name of the bozo who put him there.
Shoot my page expired so I have to type my comments again and the first ones were GOOD...lol.
Christie must either pardon Aitkens before Christmas or forget about scoring points with conservatives, so I take issue with Talisker’s prophecies. Useless and detrimental to wait until after the first of the year.
By allowing the innocent Aitkens to sit in jail during Christmas, Christie “loses” Christian conservatives in large amounts and the rally on December 12 will make certain of that.
I *was* open to learning more about Christie, but I am quickly coming to the conclusion that he’s a typical Northeastern Republican, except for his tough stance against public employees unions out of dire financial necessity.
An idiot judge for sure. I am guessing democrat.
it’s never a good idea to allow yourself to be in a position to be used as an example by the system. the judge in this case should be removed from the bench if this is his notion of justice. He is a threat to freedom and liberty.
“Actually Brian Aitken should have been covered by the ‘moving’ exemption which is one of the exemptions listed in TITLE 2C - THE NEW JERSEY CODE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE, 2C:39-6 Exemptions. 2C:36-6e addresses “between one place of business or residence and another when moving”.
The Federal law should actually make the “moving exemption” irrelevant, as it seems there is no such language in 926A that would restrict transportation to just “changing residence.” But it looks like his lawyers already cited that law. From your article:
“Gilbert and Nappen, Aitken’s lawyers, say he also should have been protected by a federal law that forbids states from prosecuting gun owners who are transporting guns between residences. Morley would not let Aitken cite that provision either”
Looks like the Judge and Prosecuter are just plain idiots. Hopefully this gets overturned quickly in Federal Court if not pardoned by Christie.
More info here:
and here on Justice James Morley?? I take it he’s the same guy although Christie refused to reappoint him as Superior Court judge:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/former_superior_court_judge_no.html
Social workers need to be eliminated,They suffer from a disorder that causes them to believe EVERYONE who is not a social worker or government employee is too crazy or ignorant to have freedoms or think on their own.They are destroying this country at every level.The tools of liberals to enforce the pc police state.They operate unencumbered by the constitutional restraints placed on law enforcement.Most of the psychiatric community needs to go to.
Social workers need to be eliminated,They suffer from a disorder that causes them to believe EVERYONE who is not a social worker or government employee is too crazy or ignorant to have freedoms or think on their own.They are destroying this country at every level.The tools of liberals to enforce the pc police state.They operate unencumbered by the constitutional restraints placed on law enforcement.Most of the psychiatric community needs to go to.
His name is Superior Court Judge James Morley. He's somewhat of a loon. Here's a good place to start for more details on this case:
From the article: "Yet Judge Morley wouldn't allow Aitken to claim the exemption for transporting guns between residences. He wouldn't even let the jury know about it. During deliberations, the jurors asked three times about exceptions to the law, which suggests they weren't comfortable convicting Aitken. Morley refused to answer them all three times. Gilbert and Nappen, Aitken's lawyers, say he also should have been protected by a federal law that forbids states from prosecuting gun owners who are transporting guns between residences. Morley would not let Aitken cite that provision either."
Agreed.
I just found the following at Aitken’s web site (http://briandaitken.com/ ); it’s a summary of facts by Nappen:
http://briandaitken.com/content/2010/11/Brian-Aitken-Summary-of-Facts.pdf
If they determined that he wasn’t a threat to himself or other, did they have probable cause to search his car trunk?
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