Nephew arrested

My nephew, 18yrs old, high school senior , good kid, was follow home by about 12 to 15 "hoodrats"
that were threatening to "stomp his head head in". Nephew made it home, thugs outside on sidewalk
and in yard. Nephew retrieves cap and ball pistol, goes onto porch and says "y'all leave now" , doesn't
point it at anyone, keeps it pointed down by his side and never leaves his front porch. One of the thugs
calls cops and tells them nephew has a gun and they all take off before cops get there. By the time cops get
there, pistol is in house and nothing is going on. Cops question nephew, gets the story, cuffs nephew.
Tells one of his friends that arrived after all this takes place to retrieve the pistol and he does so.
Sister in law ask why is he being arrested and they say because you have to be 21 to have a pistol ( ha ha)
She tells them that's not the case and they cuff her.Eventually release her and say they are taking nephew
to Parish, but go to the city office instead. My brother arrives and tells them the law on the age of ability to
possess a pistol in LA. Cops take off to back room come back and say they are gonna issue nephew a
summons to appear in city court and release him." Brother ask what's the charge and they say" because
he had a gun". They released him and said that they would bring the summons to their house. Never came.
Now the paperwork can't be found, No record in the computer. Pistol has not been returned. The cop that
the chief had do the paperwork that day told my brother he wasn't putting his name on it, he didn't want
anything to do with it. Now he found the pistol in his locker and don't want to touch it.

What course of action? Advise please.

Speak to a defense attorney.

So, to make sure I understand.... Nephew was FALSELY arrested and a cap n ball pistol seized by coercing someone else to retrieve it when the police didn't want to enter the residence to get it themselves. Now, they currently have released the nephew, retained possession of the pistol, and not issued the promised summons and the person who has possession of the pistol has it in his locker and it is not secured "as evidence"?:shocker:

What does the nephew want to do? Does he want his property back?

Suggest: ALL interactions with LEO/Prosecutor be audio (as a minimum or audio/video recorded as legally able in what ever efforts are done to obtain a satisfactory result for your nephew. Make sure you and your nephew FOLLOW THE LAW as best as you are able in these efforts. And to reiterate a previous poster..... seek the advise of a competent defense attorney who is familiar with the firearms laws in your state.

I guess more of what I am asking is legal footing. I am 99.99999....% sure, but value
the opinions of some here. Assurance , as much as you can get from non lawyers on the
"internets" !

Hunterdave said:

I guess more of what I am asking is legal footing. I am 99.99999....% sure, but value
the opinions of some here. Assurance , as much as you can get from non lawyers on the
"internets" !

Click to expand...

Never take legal advise from ANYONE on the internet! It invariably is worth exactly what you've paid for it.

Contact an attorney, Contact an attorney, and CONTACT AN ATTORNEY!

Many times the prosecutor/leo may have SEVERAL months after an incident to actually issue a summons or decide to prosecute someone. Contact an Attorney.

What Parish and city did this take place?

Have every person involved sit down asap and write down everything they remember including officer's names, badge numbers chain of events etc... write it down NOW while it's still fresh in memory. This will help an attorney which, from what I can tell, will be filing a civil suit.

If the officers are not giving you paperwork, then write down which officers and when.

Avoyelles Parish Town of Cottonport

Have you checked to see if the parish or town have any firearms ordinances with respect to possession of a handgun? Specifically enacted prior to 1985?

You can check here for the parish... http://library.municode.com/index.aspx?clientId=10383

I looked and couldn't find any.

Also, be prepared to record any further conversation with the police. Your nephew was seized and it was admitted that he was seized for an action that is apparently not criminal. It's important to document this.

Collect any further evidence in an unassuming fashion. The PD may decide to charge your nephew for something just to protect themselves.

EDIT - And contact an attorney first thing tomorrow. I don't know of any in your area, but perhaps others here may be able to direct you.

Parish is GTG. No municipalities in parish have anything more restrictive than state,
I OC around here all the time and have for many years with really no problems.

In addition to the several-times repeated "get a lawyer"...
I suggest doing an open records request for everything related to the incident.

Start with the fake 911 call, get any radio transmissions from the various officers, dispatch log (tracking what officers go where when), all reports (and they might lie & say none exist), and a property receipt.

If they can't provide you with a property receipt for the pistol, file a report that it was stolen.
See if the nearest ATF office can give any advice in that area.

Does your town have traffic cameras? If so, see if he can remember the route he took home & use the open records request to get video from those cameras, showing the pack of predators following him.

(As an aside, while I admire his spirit in standing up for himself, I hope by now he's recognized that it would have been better to call 911 & stay in the house instead of going out on the porch.)

Wow.

Just.

Wow.

As stated above, contact attorney, get all records you are allowed to get under your state law. MKEGal's advice about traffic cams is STELLAR. You may also look for security cameras at homes on his path. The residents may not like wandering groups of hoodlums, either.

mywifesaidyes said:

Wow.

Just.

Wow.

As stated above, contact attorney, get all records you are allowed to get under your state law. Mkegal's advice about traffic cams is stellar. You may also look for security cameras at homes on his path. The residents may not like wandering groups of hoodlums, either.

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and businesses!

This should not even have to be said....GET A LAWER. In fact, we should not have even heard about this until you had already spoken to a lawyer and gotten the gun back.

Maybe also check court dockets in the meantime. It wouldn't be the first time a cop put a summons through while not issuing it to the defendant. Defendant gets arrested on a bench warrant after he fails to appear for court date he didn't know he had.

The town had a triffic light, but had to take it down because there wasn't enough traffic to warrant it.
Doubt any residential cameras in entire town. Very SMALL town.
The pistol was returned the day that I posted this or the morning after.
Brother had already spoken to a lawyer, before I posted. Said they had a good case but wants
a hefty sum to take it. He's still looking .
I think the police chief has spoken to someone and realized they screwed up and are now
trying to cover it up.

Thanks for all the replies.

Hunterdave said:

I think the police chief has spoken to someone and realized they screwed up and are now
trying to cover it up.
i
Thanks for all the replies.

Click to expand...

I think before this gets out of hand anymore than it already has you should consider going to the police station and talking to the Chief of Police there in person, if this town is really so small it would not be unusual for the police officers to have little to no training in how to handle a situation such as this, it may have been an honest mistake on both sides. See what the Chief has to say, it may be a learning experience for both parties (one should never leave the safety of their home in order to confront a group of individuals, thats what 911 is for).

Hunterdave said:

Brother had already spoken to a lawyer, before I posted. Said they had a good case but wantsa hefty sum to take it. He's still looking.

Click to expand...

Contact John Monroe.
He's VERY 2A friendly, very willing to help cities & police departments see the error of their ways in situations like this... :lol:
and a genuinely nice guy.
john.monroe1 AT earthlink DOT net (make the obvious changes)
He's based in GA but practices across the country. (That being said, I don't know where all he's licensed, and that may affect what he can do to help your nephew.) Sometimes, everything can be done by mail, fax, email.

Nephew made a number of mistakes, here.

Once in the house, STAY in the house. Call 911. It is almost always a bad idea to do a 180-degree turn and go back into a bad situation.

If there is any type of altercation, ever, call 911 immediately. It's a race. The first one to call is the victim. The only other role available is the bad guy.

If you don't call at all, you will be viewed as the bad guy when the other party calls the police.