Milwaukee Police don't charge drug dealers with School Zone Violation

hugh jarmis · Jun 9, 2009

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http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/45268287.html

One night in October he and his partner spotted Lock on N. 51st Blvd. and pulled him over for an unpaid citation.

Lock told Newport he was coming from church. He mentioned that his brother and cousin were Milwaukee police officers.

Newport and his partner found a loaded 10 mm Glock handgun under the front seat and arrested Lock. They took the case to John Chisholm, then an assistant district attorney and head of the gun unit.

Chisholm told them that to convict under Wisconsin law, he had to prove Lock knew the gun was there, with a glance or other gesture. Fingerprints also could prove it. The cops didn't have any of that.

They also didn't know about Lock's entire criminal résumé. By that time, other investigators had gathered evidence tying Lock to big drug deals, money laundering and prostitution.

Chisholm wasn't aware of any of that. All he saw was a guy with a mostly clean record.

The best Chisholm could have gotten was a conviction for carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor. A first-time conviction typically brings probation or a short jail sentence.

Newport wasn't happy. He argued that all indications were that Lock was a major criminal. This would be a way to gain leverage.

Chisholm said if that were true, Newport needed to bring him a better case.

Today, the veteran prosecutor stands by his decision not to charge Lock.

If you go look at the school zone map, 51st blvd is almost entirely within a school zone.

It demonstrates how unreasonable the police reaction to the AG's memo and right of wisconsinites to open carry. Known drug dealers, they don't even think about the school zone violation. But when it comes to law-abiding open carriers, they are all armed with their school zone map with intent to snare everyone they can.

I'd be interested to see the data, perhaps we can do an open records request of all citations issued for concealled weapons in Milwaukee and see if ANY of those over the past 3 years resulted in the school zone felony charge?

32HR MAG · Jun 9, 2009

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Maybe you just need to have relatives that are on the force.

J.Gleason · Jun 10, 2009

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ooooo, that was good MAG!

Brass Magnet · Jun 10, 2009

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Remember "knowingly"?

If they weren't able to prove that he knew about the gun under his seat they sure as heck can't prove that he "knowingly" violated 948.605.

948.605

(2) POSSESSION OF FIREARM IN SCHOOL ZONE. (a) Any individual
who knowingly possesses a firearm at a place that the individual
knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone is
guilty of a Class I felony.

To reitterate concealed carry yetagain:

Either the weapon was on the defendant's person or that the weapon must have been within the defendant's reach and that the defendant was aware of the presence of the weapon.

I'm sure there are other cases with which to help our cause, this isn't one of them.

hugh jarmis · Jun 10, 2009

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Yeah, I started thinking about it.

I'll bet there are hundreds of examples in the past year where police pulled over and "demanded" consent searches in Milwaukee and found a CCW in a school zone and didn't charge it. (the felony)

That would demonstrate the rediculous nature of how law-abiding citizens are being intentionally scrutinized to turn them into criminals. All that onlynow that open carry is practiced post AG memo they went scrambling for the school zone restriction and sent out memo's to every po-po on the street to ensnare people just trying to exercise their constitutional rights.

The rediculous irony of all that aside, demonstrating that police are only NOW going out of their way to ensnare law abiding citizens with the school zone restriction while ignorning it for years for REAL criminals isn't going to change anything. Pointing out their selective enforcement won't remove the law. We need to.

smithman · Jun 10, 2009

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I honestly think that law enforcement was by and large unaware of the gun free school zone. Clearly they were aware of gun free schools, but 1000 ft from school property was not on their radar as being a violation. It is clear that they have not prosecuted criminals for such violations. Now they are dead set on making law-abiding people who are trying to obey a draconian limitation on their right to self-defense into felons themselves for the slightest violation.

Don't you just love how the state's minions try to punish well-intentioned people?

Citizen · Jun 10, 2009

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smithman wrote:

SNIP Don't you just love how the state's minions try to punish well-intentioned people?

Its always easier to criminalize some normal behavior than it is to catch criminals.

Woodchuck · Jun 10, 2009

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Brass Magnet wrote:

Remember "knowingly"?

If they weren't able to prove that he knew about the gun under his seat they sure as heck can't prove that he "knowingly" violated 948.605.

948.605

(2) POSSESSION OF FIREARM IN SCHOOL ZONE. (a) Any individual
who knowingly possesses a firearm at a place that the individual
knows, or has reasonable cause to believe, is a school zone is
guilty of a Class I felony.

Click to expand...

Knowingly is a key phrase and we all know that most criminals a a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Tough to pack to much into their gray matter.

32HR MAG · Jun 11, 2009

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It reminds me of the saying "It's not mine I'm holding it for a friend". Come on ,If it is your vehicle,You know it is there.The po-po seem to only enforce ,unenforced law when we exercise rights they wish we didn't excercise.

Does my rant make sense to you.I sometimes can't put thoughts into words.Must be the recreational use of my youth.lol

Lammie · Jun 12, 2009

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Bingo

Unreconstructed Confederate Polymath · Jun 12, 2009

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Knowingly is mens rea and an essential element of crime denied by "ignorance is no excuse."

Brass Magnet · Jun 12, 2009

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Unreconstructed Confederate Polymath wrote:

Knowingly is mens rea and an essential element of crime denied by "ignorance is no excuse."

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think mens rea applies when there's an excuse for ignorance written right into the statute. There aren't many statutes like this that I know of. Most of them are written in terms much more strict.

bnhcomputing · Jun 14, 2009

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Brass Magnet wrote:

Maybe I'm wrong but I don't think mens rea applies when there's an excuse for ignorance written right into the statute. There aren't many statutes like this that I know of. Most of them are written in terms much more strict.

I believe the "Safe Schools" statutebasically writes ignorance as an excuse into the statute. That is why I don't look at the school zone maps. If I don't see a school, then I don't know its there.

opusd2 · Jun 15, 2009

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smithman wrote:

I honestly think that law enforcement was by and large unaware of the gun free school zone. Clearly they were aware of gun free schools, but 1000 ft from school property was not on their radar as being a violation.

So, isn't this a matter of "ignorance of the law is no excuse"?

Milwaukee Police don't charge drug dealers with School Zone Violation

hugh jarmis

Centurion

32HR MAG

Regular Member

J.Gleason

Banned

Brass Magnet

Founder's Club Member

hugh jarmis

Centurion

smithman

Regular Member

Citizen

Founder's Club Member

Woodchuck

Regular Member

32HR MAG

Regular Member

Lammie

Campaign Veteran

Unreconstructed Confederate Polymath

Banned

Brass Magnet

Founder's Club Member

bnhcomputing

Founder's Club Member

opusd2

Regular Member