Hello Folks,
I am going to be taking a short vacation from shooting CAS, just about
3 years and six months worth, if things go well. I am posting this
message to let my friends know why I have been absent from this list and
the shoots. I have been too ashamed of my current situation to let on
about my affairs. I am also hoping that telling this tale might
enlighten, and perhaps save others from a similar fate. Please excuse
the length of this post.
As some of you know, I am as big a nut for cameras as I am for shooting
irons, especially manual focus Nikons. I am always looking for something
tasty to add to my small collection, and it was with this in mind that I
visited a local camera store. Not finding anything I wanted, I struck up
a conversation with an employee. As it turned out, he was also a Nikon
nut, and had some items from his own collection he was interested
in selling. I waited by the used camera case while he went in the back
to get his gear. There were two other employees in the store, one
working on inventory, and the other working on the mini lab processing
film. When the fellow returned, I looked at his gear and decided that I
wanted to buy a body and a lens. We came to agree on a price of $420;
considerably less than I expected to pay, and I went to the B of A
across the street to get the money. I returned a half hour later, paid
him, and put the body and lens in the pocket of my leather jacket, and
headed for home. The problem arose as I left the store.
As I walked to my car, a man got out of a van to my left. He was
talking on a cell phone as he crossed the parking lot, walked directly
in my path, and stopped. He
turned off the phone and identified himself as being with store
security, and asked to see the merchandise in my pocket and my sales
receipt. I told him that I had
purchased the items in a private sale from an employee, and asked him to
step aside. He announced that I was under arrest, and took me by the
left arm just as three police cars zoomed into the parking lot.
The officers dismounted, and the security officer turned to them and
said "I think he has a gun!". I was soon looking into the muzzles of
several 9 mm and .40 caliber Glocks and Sigs.
The problems was, he was right about one thing. I was "packing". My
little Taurus 85CH .38 Special was in the right
front pocket of my jeans. I had carried it for so long that I had
forgotten all about it and what might happen if it was discovered.
As a former peace officer, I felt naked without
a sidearm, especially in the sewer our small town has become (highest
crime rate per capita, as well as highest unemployment in the State of
California). Stockton also has a Police Department policy of of denying
permits to carry concealed to nearly everyone, including former
officers that did not serve to retirement. Unless you are wealthy enough
to be a kidnap risk, or handle large amounts of cash, you cannot get a
permit from SPD.
So, there I was, with my hands in the air, watching the officers find
that little Taurus, and realizing just how much trouble I was in. I knew
I was facing a charge of carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor. I
knew I had not committed any crime, but realized that I was probably the
only one in the parking lot who knew this.
The officers produced the camera body and lens, as well as all my other
possessions, and I was placed under arrest by a SPD officer, cuffed,
Mirandised, and
inserted into the back seat of a cruiser. I sat there while the officers
talked to the security officer, then the salesman, as well as the other
employees. An officer climbed in the car and told me we were going down
town. I would subsequently find that the
camera gear belonged to the store, not to the employee, that he denied
making any private sale to me, and that the other employees present did
not see any transaction. The tape made by security would be of no help,
as the transaction was outside the view of the camera, but the
electronic eye had a good view of me walking off stage left, stuffing
goods into my pockets.
At the Stockton Police Department I was photographed, finger printed,
and charged with four felonies (grand theft, carrying a concealed weapon
in the commission of a crime, carrying a concealed weapon in a public
place, and carrying a concealed weapon within 1000' of a school (there
is an Elementary School on the
other side of the shopping center, which they later measured with a
laser range finder to verify the charge). I refused to talk to anyone
but a lawyer, made two phone calls (one to my Wife, the other to my
Mother), and was transported to the County Jail. Once there, I found
that my bail was $626,000 (yes, six hundred and twenty six thousand
dollars), and that since it was a saturday my arraignment would be on
tuesday at 1:00 PM. I was stripped, cavity searched, dressed in
competition orange and black, and sent to Medical for an evaluation
prior to being assigned a cell. I normally walk with a cane, having a
fused spine, bad hips, and arthritis in my knees. Forced to walk without
a cane,
I fell twice on the 3/4 mile walk to Medical. The second time I fell, I
re-broke my nose. So, hobbling and bloody, I found the tender graces of
the Medical staff. When they examined me, they were impressed enough
with my busted carcass that they put me in a cell with a hospital bed,
and called my Physicians. The good Doctors were so kind as to fax the
Sheriff's Deputies my charts, and it was decided that between my
skeletal problems, bad heart, and the medications I take daily, that I
would spend any future time in this facility on the Medical wing. This
was a grace, as I did receive my
heart medications and pills for pain, but a bit of a bummer because
being in Medical means being locked down 19 hours a day. I finally
got to meet the other inmates at breakfast, which I was not able to eat.
On hearing the charges against me, they predicted that if I was
represented by a Public Defender, that I would be offered a deal for
eight years (which, interestingly enough, turned out to be the sentence
my lawyer predicted I would get if we lost a jury trial). They said
that if I declined that offer, a sentence for five years would be
offered, and that I should take that offer. I got to the phone as often
as I could, and waited to hear if my family had found a lawyer to take
my case.
For the sake of brevity, they found me a very good lawyer, and my Mom
mortgaged her house to come up with the money to hire him. I had never
heard of him before that date, but my family lawyer had recommended him,
and he promised Mom that he would get me out on my OR after arraignment,
and
that I would not serve time in jail or prison. That was enough for Mom,
and enough for me. Jail is cold this time of year, you never get warm,
and the food looks like it has been previously eaten. I lost 17 pounds
between noon on Saturday and 9:00 PM Tuesday.
My lawyer proved as good as his word, and I was "sprung" on my own
recognizance, but could not go home until my family had removed all
"firearms, ammunition, and weapons". I have been shooting, collecting,
and reloading since age 12, and it took five people with two trucks
seven hours to clear my abode. Two whole rooms were practically empty
when they were through, and they still missed five .50 caliber
ammunition cans full of reloads. My bows had to go, as well as my Bowie
knife collection. I lost a big hunk of my life that night.
(sigh)
When the case came to preliminary hearing, I was a whipped dog. The DA
had a solid case for all charges. I had no evidence to present, and no
case other than character witnesses. I could show a withdrawal from my
bank, the absence of that cash on my person at the time of my arrest.
The employee who took my money has no criminal record. My lawyer talked
to the DA, and a deal was struck. I would plead to felony grand theft
and misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon. Sentencing would be set for
September. Between now and that date, I would perform 200 hours of
community service. On that date, I will have the felony grand theft
redacted to a misdemeanor theft charge, and be sentenced to 3 years
probation. I will, God willing, walk away from this with no felony on my
record.
Which brings us to the reason for this post.
How many of you reading this carry a concealed weapon without a permit?
I'll bet some of you do so as I did; all the time. I thought it was my
"right". A good many of you carry occasionally, when you have to go out
late, or to a bad neighborhood. There will be a solid core of folks who
just won't break the law, or have a carry permit in the States there
that is allowed. But, what about the rest? Of the rest, how many of you
have ever been in jail? How many of you know the details of a "cavity
search"?
Want to find out? Just carry a gun into a situation that you would have
walked away from with nothing but your good name and solid citizenship
to bolster your cause.
The first thing my lawyer said was that he could get the theft charge
dismissed if I had not been carrying that little five shot pistol. Forty
seven years old Vietnam Vet, former Peace Officer, "Q" cleared at the
National Lab, never committed any crime other than traffic violations;
you walk away from a shoplifting charge. The store retained it's
property, and you can go back to your life, minus your dignity. Add the
gun, and all of the former will get you out on your OR if you have a
lawyer that can walk on water.
Now, I cannot go to any place where I know a weapon or firearm is
present. Once the 200 hours are done, the terms of my probation forbid
firearms. Three years later I can have my guns returned, as I will not
be a felon. Without a lawyer I would be headed to Chino, DVI, or
spend my stretch with the other "medical" inmates at Vacaville. Manson
is kept at Vacaville.
I'm glad that my Dad did not live to see me tarnish his name.
So, if this post hit anywhere close to home, if you have committed some
risky business with your shooting irons; I hope it makes you think
twice. I wish I had done so.
Oh yes; always get a receipt.
I'll see you all at the shoots; sometime in late 2003.
Adios.
Beauregard Hooligan
A.K.A. Bill Hilburn Jr.
SASS Life, NMLRA, NRA Life
Murietta Posse, River City Regulators, MLSS
Stockton, Ca.
--
Charles Hamilton [EMAIL PROTECTED] Houston, TX RKBA!
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