Media

Officials Announce New Steps To Crack Down On Gun Crime

Release Date: July 14, 2006

MEMPHIS, TN — Shelby County Mayor A C Wharton, District Attorney Bill Gibbons, General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Louis Montesi, Sheriff Mark Luttrell, Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin and other officials announced today new steps to crack down on illegal possession of guns.

            The new steps will cover misdemeanor unlawful possession of gun cases as an extension of the joint federal, state and local Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) gun initiative, which at present primarily covers felony cases involving illegal possession of guns by convicted felons and possession of prohibited firearms (such as sawed-off shotguns).

            A key component of the new initiative is an agreement by Judge Montesi, with the agreement of other general sessions criminal court judges, to handle all state illegal gun possession cases in the general sessions court system beginning August 1.  All those cases will be placed on a special “gun docket” in Judge Montesi’s court.

“This is an effort to insure consistency in how gun cases are handled in court and will enable us to more effectively monitor the cases and move them promptly through the system,” said Judge Montesi.

            In addition to the special “gun docket,” the following steps are being implemented:

• The District Attorney is asking the Memphis Police Department, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office, and the suburban police departments to make physical arrests for unlawful possession of gun misdemeanor charges whenever possible under state law, rather than issuance of misdemeanor citations;

• The District Attorney’s Office will recommend that defendants facing misdemeanor gun charges be prohibited from possessing firearms while out on bond

• Automatic standard bonds will be eliminated in unlawful possession of gun cases and, instead, judicial commissioners will individually review each case to determine an appropriate bond

• Similar to the cases currently covered by the PSN initiative, offers made by the District Attorney’s Office to settle cases will include jail time if the defendant has any prior violent misdemeanor conviction (such as simple assault) or any prior unlawful possession of a weapon conviction

• In other cases, where probation or diversion is offered, the offers by the D.A.’s Office will involve an extended period of probation or diversion (usually one year) and intensive supervision, including participation in a weapons awareness program that will teach defendants the consequences of gun misuse.

“These steps reflect an underlying philosophy that, if we show we are serious on the front end, we may be able to prevent some of the offenders from ‘graduating’ to more serious gun crimes,” Mayor Wharton said.

Misdemeanor illegal gun possession cases arising out of the cities of Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, and Millington are initially handled by assistant D.A.s assigned to those cities’ courts. Gibbons said offers made on gun cases in those courts would be similar to the offers made in Judge Montesi’s division of general sessions court.

  “We are working together to use our existing state laws as effectively as possible to address the problem of too many guns in the wrong hands.  At the same time, we recognize that our state laws are not as strong as they need to be, and we’ll be going back to the General Assembly again next year to ask for tougher laws,” District Attorney Gibbons said.

Sheriff Luttrell noted that, for a number of years, tougher state laws for illegal possession of guns have been pushed by the Tennessee Public Safety Coalition, which is comprised of police chiefs, sheriffs and district attorneys from across the state.

“In the meantime, we’re going to do the best with the laws we have,” Sheriff Luttrell said.

Director Godwin said all Memphis police officers will be urged to make physical arrests whenever possible under state law. Current state law requires issuance of a misdemeanor citation for unlawful possession of a weapon unless at least one of a number of exceptions applies.  The exceptions include:

• A reasonable likelihood exists that the arrested person will fail to appear in court

• There are existing arrest warrants for the person

• A reasonable likelihood that the offense would resume

• A reasonable likelihood that persons or property would be endangered by the arrested person

• The person arrested cannot or will not offer satisfactory evidence of identification.

United States Attorney David Kustoff noted that the new steps will compliment the PSN initiative.

“It expands the tough approach law enforcement is taking to the illegal possession of guns, and the community will benefit,” Kustoff said.

CONTACTS:

Gwendolyn D. McClain Director of Communications & Public Affairs Shelby County Government 901-545-4560 Gwen.mcclain@shelbycountytn.gov

Jennifer Donnals Communications Director Shelby County District Attorney’s Office 901-545-5988 Jennifer.donnals@scdag.com

 

 

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