Question on mandatory one year sentence law

[garandman]

http://www.malegislature.gov/Laws/GeneralLaws/PartIV/TitleI/Chapter269/Section10

I read an article that noted none of the first 100 people prosecuted under this law were jailed.

Are there any statistics about how many people have been prosecuted, and how many were actually jailed?

I've had many conversations lately along the lines of "Lawful gun owners, like everyone else, want an end to gun violence. But the many laws Massachusetts already has have failed - because they are not enforced. Lets enforce the laws already on the books before passing new ones."

 

[MisterHappy]

IIRC, this was because most, if not all, of the people that were charged under this law were also charged with other offenses. In the "Let's Make a Deal" phase, it was dealt down, or away, or whatever.

Still the signs looked cool at the borders, though.

 

[n1oty]

I spent one year working in Dorchester District Court and seven years working in the Norfolk County Jail and HOC back in the 80's. I never saw ANYONE put away on the mandatory year. One ploy in particular that I recall was that the judge would convict on other, lesser charges, but find the defendant "not guilty" on the Bartley-Fox charge, thus preserving their judicial discretion.

I'm sure that someone, somewhere must have been unlucky enough to get rammed by the Bartley-Fox mandatory year. I never observed it, though.

 

[richc]

As a kid I hung around a bar in Dorchester. One of the regulars was arrested outside the bar with a handgun. IIRC he went away for a year, losing his job at the electric or gas company.

This would have been mid seventies. They used to keep a jar on the bar for him to toss his family a few bucks.

Interesting thing... there were a group of guys hanging around outside the bar. One of them, a long shore man, saw the cops coming and passed off the pistol to this guy. He took the fall. LE even told him they knew the gun was not his but he would not drop a dime.

I stopped hanging around that bar so I don't know whatever happened to him.

 

[Big Daddy 45acp]

13 years in Corrections and 0nly remember 1 case of this. A guy from New Hampshire was picking up his wife at work and inadvertently crossed into MA. Stopped for a traffic violation, cops saw a brand new handgun, still in the box w/receipt, on the back seat and brought him in.

 

[Laderbuilt]

I suck at reading law can anyone it this into laymans terms?

 

[OfficerObie59]

Yup, no one ever gets the year. Which is why the gov's new proposals are pointless.

 

[garandman]

Yup, no one ever gets the year. Which is why the gov's new proposals are pointless.

Any suggestion on where I can get actual data? Not sure to ask an elected rep or inquire at some department.

 

[Big Daddy 45acp]

Any suggestion on where I can get actual data? Not sure to ask an elected rep or inquire at some department.

Might want to try with the Probation Department. I don't know what, if any, info they would give you.

 

[Orion2k]

Speaking from experience....When I was a LEO in the early 80's I had two cases involving firearms. One was a domestic where the guy chased his girlfriend and their infant son around the yard with a loaded rifle, which I visually witnessed. I had every right to shoot the bastard but he dropped the rifle on command. I charged him with Chap. 269 sec. 10(b) which was the bartley fox law which related to illegally carrying a firearm. When the case went to court for trial, I discovered that someone in the DA's office amended the complaint the I had filed out and added Chap. 269 sec. 10(a) which is the same wording except that this subsection says possession. A bench trial was held just in front of a judge, the guy was found guilty and was sentenced to 1 year but the judge found him guilty on sub section (a) and dismissed subsection (b). The 1 year sentence, because it was a house of correction sentence, made him eligible for parole in 6 months.

The second case was a theft of firearms and rape of a child. The guy went to trial and was found guilty of subsection (b) and was truly sentenced to 1 year with an on and after sentence of 9 to 12 years for the rape.

Now, this is going back a few decades and I have not kept up with the laws in a while but at that time the bartley fox law only applied to people that were caught illegally carrying and not illegally in possession of a firearm. Our wonderful legislature deliberately left the weaker subsection in place to give the criminals a way out of the stiffer sentences.

As far as trying to get an actual number of people that were convicted of the tougher subsection, I wouldn't know if the probation department could help you or not. A lot of the probation records were not computerized at that time so even if you do get information I would think it would only be a fraction of the actual number of people that were convicted.

 

[rupluggedin]

As a kid I hung around a bar in Dorchester. One of the regulars was arrested outside the bar with a handgun. IIRC he went away for a year, losing his job at the electric or gas company.

This would have been mid seventies. They used to keep a jar on the bar for him to toss his family a few bucks.

Interesting thing... there were a group of guys hanging around outside the bar. One of them, a long shore man, saw the cops coming and passed off the pistol to this guy. He took the fall. LE even told him they knew the gun was not his but he would not drop a dime.

I stopped hanging around that bar so I don't know whatever happened to him.

1310 or the
Blarny stone?

 

[Maxspeed]

OK, What does that mean? My kids going to jail for having an airsoft rifle?

 

[richc]

1310 or the
Blarny stone?

Although I spent a little time in both, it was neither. It was across the street from Lucky Strike Lanes where I worked for a while. I can't remember the name of the place now... but it was at the corner of Park and Adams Streets.

I'm sure you know this but the 1310 was INSANE! I went there a few times with buddies and was glad to get out alive.