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BREAKING NEWS: San Francisco OPEN CARRIER found NOT GUILTY by JURY

cato

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Jury Acquits Honor Student Of Gun Charge
March 24th, 2010 | Category: Press Releases


San Francisco, CA – An Army veteran and Dean’s List student who was prosecuted over a legally-registered, unloaded gun was found not guilty by a San Francisco jury Wednesday.

Jury members deliberated just 45 minutes before acquitting San Francisco resident Wayne Lee Banks Jr., 26, of carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle. The misdemeanor charge carries up to a year in jail.

Banks, who has no criminal convictions, was arrested Oct. 9, 2009 following a contested traffic stop at Kearny and Clay streets. Officers stated in the police report that they immediately saw a handgun in a belt holster propped up against the center console.

“Despite officers describing the gun as immediately visible to justify the detention, Mr. Banks was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon. You can’t have it both ways. It’s not a magic gun,” said his attorney, Deputy Public Defender Maria Lopez.

During the two day trial, Banks testified that he felt comfortable carrying a handgun for protection because of his Army training and understanding of gun laws. Even though firearms carried openly in belt holsters are not considered concealed according to California Penal Code, Banks testified that he took the already visible belt holster off his hip and placed it further up on the driver’s seat against the armrest to ensure his unloaded gun was completely visible as he drove.

A sergeant and two officers from the San Francisco Police Department testified at the trial. Police also submitted photographs of Banks’ gun partially wedged into the corner of his seat. During cross examination by Lopez, however, the sergeant admitted that the photographs were taken after he had handled the gun and placed it in that position.

“The testimony and photographs were not consistent with the initial police report and there was tampering with the evidence,” Lopez said. “The jury couldn’t understand why this went to trial. Either a gun is concealed or it is not, and this gun clearly was not.”

Banks, a 4.0 student and track team member at San Francisco City College, plans to transfer to Morehouse College and feared a conviction could ruin his chances for financial aid and scholarships, Lopez said.

San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi called the trial a waste of resources.

“Mr. Banks was extremely conscientious about following the laws surrounding gun ownership,” Adachi said. “Considering all the cases involving illegal weapons and gun violence, it’s difficult to understand why time and money was spent prosecuting Mr. Banks.”
http://sfpublicdefender.org/media/2010/03/jury-acquits-honor-student-gun-charge/



Three cheers and a dancing banana for the SF Public Defenders Office and a SF Jury (never thought I'd say it)!!! :celebrate



SF PD,

Conceal this!
 

bigtoe416

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Kearny and Clay? I wonder how far he was driving, this intersection is probably safe, but there are definitely schools surrounding the area. Maybe he had a very specific route he was following. Good to see that an SF jury can understand the law.
 

NightOwl

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Great to see a rational verdict, and solid 'wtf's from the public defenders. Good call. Boo on the officers who made the arrest though, just fishing and trying to make something out of nothing. Their departments should look into training them on the definition of concealed.

*puts a ball on a table* not concealed.

*puts a ball in in a sack* concealed.

Any questions?
 

tekshogun

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Excellent!

I am happy Mr. Banks was acquitted of th charge and I can only hope that his life was not so foolishly ruined by this case. Any law enforcement officer or prosecuting attorney Worth Their Salt should have known better. And good work to SF Public Defender Maria Lopez for her work and to SF Public Defender Adachi for his excellent words.



Well, I guess the laws of physics cease to exist on top of your stove. Were these magic grits? Did you buy them from the same guy who sold Jack his beanstalk beans?
~Vinniy Gambini


"You can’t have it both ways. It’s not a magic gun..." ~Deputy Defender Maria Lopez
 

dirtykoala

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great news.

this is what happens when you put a clown in a police costume.
 

Ca Patriot

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Wait, if the handgun wasnt in a locked container then isnt that illegal ?
 

Mike

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Ca Patriot wrote:
Wait, if the handgun wasnt in a locked container then isnt that illegal ?
No, open carry is allowed in vehciles in California just like it is outside the vehicle. And in unincrporated areas where the coutny has not banned shooting, the openly carried guns may be loade as well.
 

bad_ace

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Ca Patriot wrote:
Wait, if the handgun wasnt in a locked container then isnt that illegal ?

No. If you can legally walk in a place while Open Carrying, you can legally drive while OCing. Provided you don't conceal it in some way in the car, like your jacket covering it while seated or something.

The idea that the gun HAS to be locked while driving is FUD. But still a good idea as driving and avoiding all school zones is like dancing through a mine field.
 

CA_Libertarian

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I'm glad the SFPD got caught staging photos of the gun being partially concealed "wedged" in the seat... and how other evidence and trial testimony showed that they falsified their initial police report.

Let's be glad the police in this instance were inept at framing their victim.

The question is: Will the officers be punished for abuse of power and perversion of justice? Or will they be punished for not doing a better job of hiding it? I'd like to see the SFPD brass take some serious actions to show us which it is.
 

tekshogun

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CA_Libertarian wrote:
I'm glad the SFPD got caught staging photos of the gun being partially concealed "wedged" in the seat... and how other evidence and trial testimony showed that they falsified their initial police report.

Let's be glad the police in this instance were inept at framing their victim.

The question is: Will the officers be punished for abuse of power and perversion of justice? Or will they be punished for not doing a better job of hiding it? I'd like to see the SFPD brass take some serious actions to show us which it is.

I agree and wonder too if the police officer's will be punished. Nothing against police in general, but I remember all of these interdepartmental memos going out stating that open carriers are trying to coax police into making mistakes so we can file a lawsuit.....

they're worried about us messing with them so much that they forget that their own officers are human beings and are just as capable of lying, making mistakes, or withholding evidence as any other human being. If a non-law enforcement officer did what they did, that is tamper with evidence, give false testimony, and arrest someone with out any kind of justification, they would be standing tall before the man and a jury of their peers with the quickness!
 

Jeff Hayes

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Can he sue the LEOs for tampering with the evidence? If there areno repercusions for the LEOsthat just means another criminalgot away.
 

tekshogun

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I don't know California's Civil Courts system (or my own for that matter :)) but I would assume there could be some case of liability for false prosecution if the case was indeed built upon evidenced that may have/was tampered with in such a way to produce a conviction and also if the police KNEW that concealed meant completely unseen.

It cannot be overlooked, immediately as a mere oversight, that the officer(s) involved in the arrest and charge knew the concealed carry law yet when they SAW a gun in plain sight, they still charged someone with an illegal concealment charge. Either they, the officers and the district attorney are engaging in nefarious acts to rid the streets of law-abiding gun carriers or they are simply that stupid. This all should not be ignored because if I turned on to an no-speed-posted street and was doing 55 in a 35 and was pulled over, we have no excuse to say that we didn't know the inner-city speed limit in the state is 35 if no speed limit is posted. We still get in trouble for not knowing the law...

I can't easily pass judgement on anyone, but it was clear that between the police officers involved, their commanders, and the prosecutors involved, a colossal mistake was made and it was brought to light in a criminal court.
 
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