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Magnus v. US -- DC Ct of Appeals
PDF here. The DC court rules that a person can challenge a decade old guilty plea to violating DC's handgun ban, provided he can make the right showings of fact. Also interesting in that it lists other rulings of that court giving effect to the Heller ruling.
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The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund put together an amicus brief for that case.
Before we celebrate too loudly, and whatever the good effects, the guy was a drug dealer who bought the guns illegally on the street...not a very good poster boy. I want gun rights preserved, ...and the principle is good, even if I can't necessarily celebrate this individual's circumstance.
If the guy was a drug dealer, why was he busted for the guns and not the drugs, or even BOTH? Had he been convicted of a drug charge, this case wouldn't exist: He'd be a felon.
Anyone convicted on an unconstitutional law should be set free. If the DA and the system failed, got lazy, or whatever and got someone convicted on a BS gun charge, then they should be disbarred.
most likely the penalty for drug dealing is lower than the gun possession or the evidence for the drug dealing was suspect. I have seen DA's claim the person is Attila the Hun and then later you find they were convicted of jaywalking, (Which was a serious offense in NYC a few years ago :)
Magnus did not plead guilty to any drug charge. Nor was he found guilty of any drug charge because there was not the evidence to find him guilty. All drug charges were dropped.
Okay, so he was only protecting the Marijuana and the dealer...My bad...
From the record:
On March 30, 1996, police executed a search warrant at a residence located at 814 Decatur
Street, N.W. They discovered two loaded handguns in a room in the basement. Outside that room,
elsewhere in the basement, the police found one pound of marijuana and $9,900 in cash. Magnus,
who was present at the time of the search, admitted to possessing the weapons and was arrested. He
later signed a typed confession (prepared by the police), in which he stated:
I own both the .357 cal pistol and the .45 caliber semi-auto pistol
found in my room. I bought both pistol [sic] on the street from two
unknown people. The .357 I paid $150.00 for and the .45 cal pistol
I paid $250.00 for. I bought them because I was robbed in front of
my house (814 Decateur [sic] St. N.W.). I don’t own or sell the
marijuana found in 814 Decateur [sic] St. N.W. that belongs to Chris
Ferguson who lives there but wasn’t home. I rent a room from
Chris’s mother in 814 Decateur [sic] St. N.W. Washington D.C. If
someone came to the house to rob the marijuana from Chris I would
use my guns to protect the marijuana and Chris from being harmed.[3]
Magnus
Wow, this may open a lot of doors for redress of past wrongs. Great!