O/T Enlighten me...........

Can someone enlighten me on this?

In the Lincoln, NE newspaper this week, there was a story about local law officers busting several boneheads for growing pot in their basement. (About the 6th or 8th such bust in the last month or two).

Anyway, after the guys were charged with the usual charges attendant to growing pot, they were also charged with using a firearm to commit a felony because a pistol was found in the house. Nothing was said about any of the perps picking up the pistol or threatening anyone with it. Apparently it was just laying there unconcealed. I believe the rule of thumb the Nebraska LEOs use is if half the hand grip is visible, a handgun is not considered concealed.

So, if the pistol was just laying there with no one attempting to use it, how was it being used to grow pot?

Would the charge of using a firearm to commit a felony stick in court if the pistol was owned legally? If it wasn't owned legally, I would think different charges would apply. I"ve been wondering about this ever since I read the article.

Cops a lot of times will try and make up charges to charge somebody with.In the past when you could afford to hire a lawyer you could get stuff like that thrown out.If they were in somebodys house,and there was a gun just lying there,and they had a permit for it or whatever they need in Nebraska,my guess is that its one of those stupid cop charges.I think it works like this,a prosecuting attorney dreams up some of this stuff and tries to see if it will stick.Depending on how good the lawyer is that they get,he may make the prosecuting attorney such a fool for trying it that he stops,or if he cant do anything about it,the prosecuting attorney will get some kind of charge for it.Besides that a judge may look at it and say he is not going to mess with it,or not.

Im not a lawyer or anything.I just have been arrested before and had to hire a lawyer and he got 4 out of 5 charges dropped they had against me by the judge.Plus in court he argued so much better than the prosecutor that he got the one they still kept on me reduced to no jail time and a fine.

That was back in the 1970s,I have no idea what it would be like today.My stuff was a traffic accident,not a gun.A lot of stuff seems to be who tells the best story and makes the judge or jury agree with him.Court has very little to do with laws sometimes.It is a good idea to set in court and watch some time.I watched a lawsuit one afternoon and it was the same way the lawyer who told the best story and got the jury and judge to agree won.Ive been in traffic court and saw tickets get torn up sometimes and thrown out and more charges sometimes get added on.It depends on a lot of things and how the person being charged acts.But laws about guns are weird as far as I know,everywhere is different.If they want to press it,breaking some gun law is about as good a ticket to jail as anything.Like they might not get any time for the marijuana,but they will probably get some time for the gun if they broke some law.Also its a one sided story from the cops it sounds like.There is no telling what the truth is.

May have been a rookie cop wanting to confiscate a nice hand gun and later drop charges if he could keep it . some dummys would go for that .

Very simple drugs and guns do not mix so if you have the drugs and also have a gun you are in more trouble just because it is there. Not right but most of the time that is how it is looked at. You here it all the time on the news that they busted some one for a meth lab and the guy had a gun so he gets hit twice even if the gun was locked in a gun cabinet.

Using a firearm to commit a felony,or possession during the commission of a felony?
The latter seems pretty self explanatory. They were commiting a felony and were in possession of a firearm at the time.

rrlund is right, drugs and the firearm is a felony

In most states, if a firearm is "used" in the commission of a crime, it significantly raises the stakes. In this case, it seems unlikely that any reasonable jury would find the defendants guilty of using the gun to grow pot, but as we all know juries are seldom reasonable. A smart lawyer will tell the potheads to cop a plea rather than risk going to court over the firearms offense.

Of course, just because the cops made the charge doesn't mean the DA will try to prosecute it, nor does it mean that the judge will find there was probable cause to try the dopers on the gun charge.

The newspaper article said, "Use of a firearm to commit a felony".

Of course, we all know how accurately news is reported anymore. I say that, and I used to manage a newspaper.

[i:654c4848f0]"...drugs is a dirty business."[/i:654c4848f0] - Vito Corleone, "The Godfather"

Yes a gun makes it worse for the perp and looks better for the cops, even if it is just in the house.
Just like all the time you hear about alcohol "related" car stuff. If sombody runs a stop sign and hits you on your way back from the grocery store, and you have food and a six pack in the back seat you can bet that alcohol will be on the accident report.

In Washington, if anyone is in possession of a firearm while commiting a felony, its an automatic 5 year "firearms enhancement" to the sentence. No argument, bada boom, bada bing.
Needn't be displayed, brandished or anything. Possession alone is enough.

They're trying to get the knuckleheads to leave their guns at home while out lifting stuff to buy drugs, so we folks will just lose some stuff, not get killed.

You have hit the nail on the head. Perjury is just another tool in the tool bag of the police.

It is just another way to pick on the little man. If you so much as spit on the street, and have a gun, then they can pile all kinda charges on to your "crime" That way they can generate more work for the prosecutor and the defence attorneys. It's all a legal scam to separate you from your money. The least little offence will cost a person $5,000 or so. Lots of that gets slipped under the table to grease the palms of the law.

Gene

Oh the joys of living in Nebraska, been here my whole life, and just a speculation thats it not much different any where else. But the more things they charge you with, the better they make it look by plea bargining away all the lesser charges and only sentencing you on the (usually)big one. See it here all the time.

In Michigan, I think it gets you an extra 2 years of bunking with bubba.

T40, how about coming up with some facts to support your "theories"?

Trucker 40 is right on. A local fellow was doing some night hunting on Palmer Meadow.He lives there on a discontinued town road.Game warden found him in the road with a shot gun and a flash lite.He shined the light in the wardens eyes, warden kicked him in the crotch.When the case came to court the offender told the judge that he heard a loud growl outside his house.When he got outside he saw the Palmer Meadow Swamp Monster fighting with his hound dog.He said he shot the monster to protect his dog.Warden heard the shot and gave him a summons for night hunting.Judge said that was the best story he had heard in a long time and let the nite hunter off.Another fellow was traveling along a dirt road with his girl friend looking for a place to park.He saw a pair of eyes shining so shined his flash lite at them.Wardens had set up a pair of white reflectors on some wire stakes,He got a ticket fo illuminating game.He told the judge he was just tryig to show his girl friend a moose.Judge let him off.Judge told him to leave his flashlite home when he toor her parking again.3 fellows were riding along a dirt road when they saw a partridge.They backed up and ran the bird over.Turns out the bird was a fake the game warden made out of some burdocks.Warden gave them a ticket for hunting with a truck.Two college girls ran through the campus with no clothes on.Judge said the law said genitals had to be exposed or the case was faulty.He let them off.

If you think T40 has ever been "right on", I feel sorry for you. The man can barely post a coherent sentence. Your stories are as about "out there" as T40"s.

I can back them up. Ive been a town constable.Go sit in on a few court cases,you lack education in these matters.I did code enforcement for 20 years.A woman called me and said her neighbor had moved in a mobile home with out a permit.I went to see the woman who made the complaint and told her that her neighbor had a permit, while I was there I noticed that she had built a good sized house behind her trailer.No permit on the house.She had to pay a double permit fee for her oversight.Hope some posters who have been in law enforcement will tell us about things that happened during the time they were active.

Coupe, I've been working in Public Safety for 26 years. I've got plenty of big city experience, plus 10 years living in the country. T40 is a cop hater from the word go. He's usually on the New OT Forum posting some gibberish.

I noticed you said it was the 4th or 5th time they had been arrested for growing marijuana. If they have ever been convicted, owning or possessing a firearm is a felony in any state.

(quoted from post at 05:58:58 05/24/10) I can back them up. Ive been a town constable.Go sit in on a few court cases,you lack education in these matters.I did code enforcement for 20 years.A woman called me and said her neighbor had moved in a mobile home with out a permit.I went to see the woman who made the complaint and told her that her neighbor had a permit, while I was there I noticed that she had built a good sized house behind her trailer.No permit on the house.She had to pay a double permit fee for her oversight.Hope some posters who have been in law enforcement will tell us about things that happened during the time they were active.

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I had a doper wave me down one day to report someone stole his dime bag........Said he bought two bags and his buddy stole one of them. Asked him to show me the other so i would know what i was looking for and he pulled it out for me.......so then i ask him if his dealer could back up his story he bought two bags.......yep you guessed it he dropped his dealers name too.........got to love the dopers.......