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arrested for illegal carrying of a weapon without even haveing my gun on me help

cato985

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this past easter i was arrested in slidell louisiana for illega carrying of a weapon and disturbing the pease while fighting. what happened was i was at a club and was leaving when i saw one of my friends was about to get into a fight. i ran over there to break it up when a large crowd swarmed around me and him. i left to my vehicle and grabbed my pistol but stood by my truck with my gun in open sight but behind me and away from the crowd. when i relized that the situation wasnt worth trying to protect myself i placed the gun back in my truck and assissted to break up the fight. 2 police officers than ran over there and started tazing the crowd as i was pulling my friend away he then tazed hi and me twice. as the crowd broke up i wlked to my truck where he than ran over to me cuffed me and asked where my gun was i said its in my truck covered up he then went in my truck without my consent took my gun arrested me didnt tell me what for just called me a dumb ass. he asked if i had the gun out and i told him yes but never concealed it and that i was within my rights because louisiana is an open carry state. he refuted that told me i was wrong and that i was going to jail but not what for. i arrived at the jail was told my bond and fine but never told my charges until after i was booked. if anyone can help me out on this with a lawyer i would appreciate it i go to court on june 9th i will update what happens thank you.
 

NRAMARINE

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June 9? Why are you just now bringing this up? You should have gotten a lawyer already. The fact that it was a bar, may hurt you, if you were still on the property. I would bring up that you were never apprised of the charge. However I suspect they will try brandishing, the fact that you returned to the fight will not help either. You should check the links on the home page for info on the law regarding oc. Another thread has suggested Michael Walsh of Baton Rouge.
 

charlie12

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I think you're screwed. You were at a bar where a fight was going on you pull a gun our of your car and hold it in your hand.

That's not OC that is brandishing as I see it.
 

cato985

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i was not on the bars property and as far as going back to the fight i was maby 30 feet away from it i have witnessess saying that i was braking it up. i hope im not screwed the cop never saw me with the gun the whole time it was way after the fact that he came to me about it.
 

dirty_sanchez

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charlie12 wrote:
I think you're screwed. You were at a bar where a fight was going on you pull a gun our of your car and hold it in your hand.

That's not OC that is brandishing as I see it.

I was thinking the very same thing.

He retreated to remove himself from harm, then went back to the fight with a bigger stick.

But then again what do I know, it's Monday morning and I'm quarterbacking.

Dirty
 

NRAMARINE

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It;s possible you could argue you had reasonable fear that someone's life was in danger ( hence the potential for lethal force) however you need to read up on the castle doctrine. However you need to get a good lawyer and get a continuance to give him (or her) time to work on the case. IMHO, that is also brandishing.
 

georg jetson

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La Confederate had just posted a name of a defence lawyer on this thread...

http://opencarry.mywowbb.com/forum26/40902-2.html

Your June 9th date is probably your arraignment... yes?? If you can't afford an attorney, one will be appointed at that time.

You may want to write down all of the facts in a clear and concise manner(as opposed to how you did it in your original post)as well as begin researching the law relative to your case so that you might be an asset to your future attorney. Your life depends on his / her success.
 

Craw

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almost a fight in the streets at a club so you leave the threat and grab agun then decide to go back to the threat. May be hard to beat.

holding a gun in your hands I do not think is concidered open carry. Try walking around walmart with a pistol in your hand.

Old Town clubs, glad I out grew the club scene, especially there.

Carry on but be careful when and what you do.
 

Slidell Jim

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Craw wrote:
Old Town clubs, glad I out grew the club scene, especially there.
Most of Olde Town is within 1000ft of Brock Elementary, St Tammany Jr, or Pathways School. Back in the day, the cops often charged drug dealers of possession within 1000ft of a school if they catch you inside one of the bars with dope. (ie The Balcony or Catz).

By my measurement, Its 850 ft from the door of Heidlberg's to the entrance of Brock.
It's 990 ft from the front door of Club Pheonix to the entrance of Brock.
The entrance to Old Town Tavern (formerly Minicapelli's) or the Old Town Soda Shop is outside the 1000' GFSZ of Brock, but might put you within 1000ft of Pathways.
Best suggestion: Stay out of OT with your guns or dope!

I agree with what most folks have already advised you.... get a lawyer (preferably weeks ago), stop posting here about the incident (save your arguments for the courtroom), write everything down (preferably immediately after such an incident), and give your account of the incident to your lawyer ONLY.

One thing I can add is that, it sounded like the cops never actually saw you with the gun out of your vehicle ( BTW there is no OC in the hand, that called "brandishing"), so someone else (an unnamed witness) advised the cops of it, then they had PC to search your vehicle. A good lawyer might can argue out of that one, but IDK.
Also, the disturbing the peace for fighting charge is tough to beat in court, it's your word against the cops. in 1999 the cops arrest the bouncer at Minicapeli's for "DTP by fighting" when he was breaking up a fight between drunks inside his own bar!

I'm really sorry for you to hear about this, if that is any consolation. Unfortunately, I think you are pretty much screwed.
 

georg jetson

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Slidell Jim wrote:
Craw wrote:
Old Town clubs, glad I out grew the club scene, especially there.
Most of Olde Town is within 1000ft of Brock Elementary, St Tammany Jr, or Pathways School. Back in the day, the cops often charged drug dealers of possession within 1000ft of a school if they catch you inside one of the bars with dope. (ie The Balcony or Catz).

By my measurement, Its 850 ft from the door of Heidlberg's to the entrance of Brock.
It's 990 ft from the front door of Club Pheonix to the entrance of Brock.
The entrance to Old Town Tavern (formerly Minicapelli's) or the Old Town Soda Shop is outside the 1000' GFSZ of Brock, but might put you within 1000ft of Pathways.
Best suggestion: Stay out of OT with your guns or dope!

I agree with what most folks have already advised you.... get a lawyer (preferably weeks ago), stop posting here about the incident (save your arguments for the courtroom), write everything down (preferably immediately after such an incident), and give your account of the incident to your lawyer ONLY.

One thing I can add is that, it sounded like the cops never actually saw you with the gun out of your vehicle ( BTW there is no OC in the hand, that called "brandishing"), so someone else (an unnamed witness) advised the cops of it, then they had PC to search your vehicle. A good lawyer might can argue out of that one, but IDK.
Also, the disturbing the peace for fighting charge is tough to beat in court, it's your word against the cops. in 1999 the cops arrest the bouncer at Minicapeli's for "DTP by fighting" when he was breaking up a fight between drunks inside his own bar!

I'm really sorry for you to hear about this, if that is any consolation. Unfortunately, I think you are pretty much screwed.
As we have seen from other threads, the gun free school zone is a federal issue. It's unlikely that the Slidell attorney will refer this case to the Feds, but it's a good reason to not be public about how you might defend yourself. If you can have any charges dismissed pretrial, the DA can use the same set of facts to file another charge or refer to federal prosecutors.

BTW - Judge Lamz is a very fair muni judge. He seems to be very concerned with justice.
 

Summit_Ace

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cato985 wrote:
this past easter i was arrested in slidell louisiana for illega carrying of a weapon and disturbing the pease while fighting. what happened was i was at a club and was leaving when i saw one of my friends was about to get into a fight. i ran over there to break it up when a large crowd swarmed around me and him. i left to my vehicle and grabbed my pistol but stood by my truck with my gun in open sight but behind me and away from the crowd. when i relized that the situation wasnt worth trying to protect myself i placed the gun back in my truck and assissted to break up the fight. 2 police officers than ran over there and started tazing the crowd as i was pulling my friend away he then tazed hi and me twice. as the crowd broke up i wlked to my truck where he than ran over to me cuffed me and asked where my gun was i said its in my truck covered up he then went in my truck without my consent took my gun arrested me didnt tell me what for just called me a dumb ass. he asked if i had the gun out and i told him yes but never concealed it and that i was within my rights because louisiana is an open carry state. he refuted that told me i was wrong and that i was going to jail but not what for. i arrived at the jail was told my bond and fine but never told my charges until after i was booked. if anyone can help me out on this with a lawyer i would appreciate it i go to court on june 9th i will update what happens thank you.
Not to be devil's advocate here but it could be seen as brandishing. You should always make sure the threat is real before you place your hand on your gun. Just my opinion.

Had you consumed alcohol?
 

georg jetson

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Discussing the facts of the OP's case here is counterproductive to his defense. If the OP has any GENERAL questions as to where to find things that may help him help his attorney... I'm sure we can assist.
 

ixtow

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Is there no law allowing you to render assistance to others? Most self-defense laws are not just self-defense, but the defense of others.

I'm not familiar with LA in this regard, but it would seem very unusual to me if it were not so.
 

Craw

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I know you did not bring the gun to the fight. You pulled it out of the vehicle and stood there with it in your hands away from the fight that hadn't broke out. Now this could be a tough situation for you. Police see it as drunks get into your typical fight after long night of drinking and one runs to vehicle to get gun.

Now the part were the cop never saw the gun and then went to search your vehicle, you may have a fight againts that. Bad news is that you were in old town with drunks. Just sayin is all.

I remembemer going to Odesey in 93 94 in olde town, pulling all nighters, and then going hunting before the sun came up. This was back when the bars didn't close at 2am. A buddy worked at the bar and once I picked him up at 4am he went to the back, grabbed his shotgun, laid it down to finish up picking up some stools and making sure all customers left, then we grabbed his shotgun and left. Thought nothing of it.

This too was back when we kept our shotguns in the back of our trucks in highschool because we would go dove hunting before and after work.


Fill us in on the 10th on what happened, if you can.
 

nimrodder

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NRAMARINE wrote:
It;s possible you could argue you had reasonable fear that someone's life was in danger ( hence the potential for lethal force) however you need to read up on the castle doctrine. However you need to get a good lawyer and get a continuance to give him (or her) time to work on the case. IMHO, that is also brandishing.
The castle doctrine does not apply here. Reguardless of the location the following applies.
RS 14:19

[align=justify]§19. Use of force or violence in defense[/align]
[align=justify]A. The use of force or violence upon the person of another is justifiable when committed for the purpose of preventing a forcible offense against the person or a forcible offense or trespass against property in a person's lawful possession, provided that the force or violence used must be reasonable and apparently necessary to prevent such offense, and that this Section shall not apply where the force or violence results in a homicide.[/align]
[align=justify]C. A person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and who is in a place where he or she has a right to be shall have no duty to retreat before using force or violence as provided for in this Section and may stand his or her ground and meet force with force.[/align]
 

NRAMARINE

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nimrodder wrote:
NRAMARINE wrote:
It;s possible you could argue you had reasonable fear that someone's life was in danger ( hence the potential for lethal force) however you need to read up on the castle doctrine. However you need to get a good lawyer and get a continuance to give him (or her) time to work on the case. IMHO, that is also brandishing.
The castle doctrine does not apply here. Reguardless of the location the following applies.
RS 14:19


[align=justify]§19. Use of force or violence in defense[/align]

[align=justify]A. The use of force or violence upon the person of another is justifiable when committed for the purpose of preventing a forcible offense against the person or a forcible offense or trespass against property in a person's lawful possession, provided that the force or violence used must be reasonable and apparently necessary to prevent such offense, and that this Section shall not apply where the force or violence results in a homicide.[/align]

[align=justify]C. A person who is not engaged in unlawful activity and who is in a place where he or she has a right to be shall have no duty to retreat before using force or violence as provided for in this Section and may stand his or her ground and meet force with force.[/align]
This could be argued either way. Being unaware of the exact number of people involved, I suggested he look into this. Particularly sec. c. In louisiana a person's vehicle is considered an extension of their home, and if he was retreating and subsequentlr retieved a weapon to defend himself it would be justified if he were persued,also if say 5 people were beating down one person who was defenseless, the lethal force would be justified. Like I said details are sketchy, I was simply suggesting he investigate all information possible. Knowledge is true power.
 
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