D'ANGELO THOMAS, 18, was arrested in the early hours of Oct. 11 with three other men after D.C. police found five guns in the car they were riding in. Mr. Thomas had a previous gun conviction, but when he appeared the next day before a magistrate in D.C. superior court, the case was dismissed. Two weeks later, Mr. Thomas was arrested again, this time on a murder charge.If the Supreme Court rules in our favor about the current suit, it won't affect charges like those brought against these defendants. If DC wants to require concealed weapon permits to carry guns in the District, and those permits are available, as they are in most states, to people more than 21 years of age without a criminal history, that won't be a problem. Pretty clearly, this bunch wouldn't qualify for permits, and would still be subject to arrest and prosecution.
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The backdrop to his death begins on Oct. 11, when officers from the First District became suspicious of a Buick LeSabre with tinted windows. Police pulled the car over and found the loaded guns. Mr. Thomas, Anthony Smith, Torrey Robinson and Anthony Gray were arrested on charges of carrying pistols without a license. They appeared later that day before a judge, who discovered that Mr. Thomas's name was missing from the narrative in the criminal complaint showing probable cause. His name appeared only as a caption of the case, U.S. v. D'Angelo Thomas. The judge held the defendants without bond until a hearing the next morning, noting that the oversight could be corrected at that time. Explicit orders were given for everyone to be there at 9 a.m.
Magistrate Judge J. Dennis Doyle was presiding when the case was called sometime between 9:24 and 9:35 a.m. Neither the case jacket nor an arresting officer were present. Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Little asked that the case be passed over so the officer and paperwork could be located. Defense attorneys objected and moved for dismissal, arguing that the government wasn't ready. The judge agreed. Sometime between 9:40 and 9:45 a.m., the officer -- who was in the courthouse fixing the paperwork -- appeared in the courtroom, only to be told the case had been dismissed. Police were furious; they believed the men to be a menace. The U.S. attorney's office quickly moved to bring new charges. On Oct. 19, a grand jury returned multiple-count indictments against the four defendants and arrest warrants were issued. Before Mr. Thomas was found, Mr. Kent was killed. Mr. Thomas was then charged with his murder.
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Certainly, one can understand the annoyance of a judge who is dealing with a crammed court calendar and is slowed by prosecutors who are unprepared or lawyers who are busy with other clients. None of that, though, can excuse a decision that at its most elemental lost sight of what's really at stake. Four young men -- two with prior gun offenses -- are picked up with loaded guns, and the court can't spare five minutes to see if letting them go is really in the interest of public safety?
Last year there was an increase in homicides in the District -- 181 people were killed -- and generally it's the police who get put on the griddle. But no matter how well police do their jobs, as officers Thomas Zurowski, Ty Truong, Anthony Smith and Christopher Beyer did on Oct. 11, they are part of a system where the role of prosecutors and the judgment of judges come into play. This case is said to have resulted in some soul-searching at the court. No one, though, could tell us if anyone got in touch with the family of Delonte Kent to report what happened. Or to say they are sorry.
One of the recurring problems with overbroad gun control laws is that by attempting to make everyone into a criminal, they make it very difficult to focus on those people who are really the problem. The average person isn't a hazard because they own a gun--a relatively small percentage of the population who have violent criminal behavior histories, and who need to be disarmed.
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