Case Highlight: Charged with a Felony Based on a Mistake. We Proved No Intent. Our client faced felony charges tied to a juvenile record from years earlier. The Commonwealth claimed he lied willfully, but the evidence showed confusion, not intent. He cooperated fully with police, providing access to his home and firearms, and followed every instruction at the gun shop. The jury saw that the critical element of intent was never proven. Not guilty.

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I'd like to thank you all for being here. Jury service really is important. There's no doubt in my mind that it's the best protection that any citizen charged with a crime has. [The defendant] has waited a long time for this day in court, over nine months, wondering whether his next residence might be a cell for something that he did not willfully do. At the beginning of the case during my opening statement I said the Commonwealth Attorney made a promise to you, they would prove that one critical element beyond a reasonable doubt. That's what they told you. The evidence has come and gone, and it has failed on that element, Instruction Number 8, the second element, Did he willfully and intentionally make that false statement? Of course he was confused. He was fifteen years old when all this happened. Deferred findings, adjudications, commitments, these are terms that oftentimes lawyers don't even understand. It's no surprise that a layperson, especially a teenager, would be confused about those proceedings.

 

The Commonwealth asked you to take a close look at the orders, and you're going to have an opportunity to do that. I'd ask you to do the same. The orders are confusing. The orders don't make it clear. There's absolutely no evidence he even saw the orders. He testified today that he never saw the court's orders, and that doesn't surprise me. He did what a reasonable person in his situation would do. When the time came when he needed to clarify his status because he wanted to enlist in the Navy, he goes down to juvenile court. There's some uncertainty as to precisely where it is he went, but it's a reasonable step. He goes down there. You heard the testimony. Both his mother and [the defendant], they go down there and somebody in juvenile court tells them, the file's been expunged. That wasn't a small mistake. That was a really big mistake. Expungement has a legal connotation. It means the record's been wiped clean. It's as if this charge never existed. It's incredibly important. It's a staggering mistake. It's the type of mistake that gets somebody charged with two felonies down the line, the reason that we're here today.

 

All the evidence in this case suggests that he never would have gone into that gun shop had he known what his legal status was. When the police show up at his house, he opens the door. He invites the officer in. He consents to a search of the house. He tells the officer, he volunteers, I have guns in the house. They're located in my bedroom. He shows the officer where the bedroom is located. If he thought that it was illegal for him to buy firearms and possess firearms, why in the world would he tell a police officer all of these things? There's a high likelihood if he doesn't volunteer the information, the police officer never would have known any better. It's akin to somebody gets pulled over for speeding and they say, Hey, you might want to take a look in the trunk. I've got a kilo of cocaine in there you might want to look at. It doesn't make sense. If he knows he made a false statement, if he thinks he's breaking the law, why is he volunteering to the officer, I have guns in the house?

 

Take into consideration when he goes to the gun shop he provides the absolute roadmap to find him, a photo ID, his Social Security number, date of birth, and his address. I would submit to you the biggest imbecile in the world doesn't provide the road map to find them if they think they're breaking the law. He didn't know. In a few moments you're all going to be back there in the jury room to deliberate and your verdict must be unanimous, but each of you have -- is going to have to come to your -- your own conclusion in the case. I'll put that another way. Each and every one of you individually is responsible for the -- the reputation, the freedom, and the future of [the defendant]. Any single one of you can stand up to prevent this from happening. It was not willful. It was not intentional. He was genuinely confused, and I'm asking that you find him not guilty because that one element, willfulness and the intent to make a misstatement, has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your service.