It took a "massive backlash" from the public and Second Amendment advocacy groups, but authorities in New Jersey have agreed to allow a Philadelphia mother who armed herself after being robbed repeatedly to take part in a pretrial intervention program rather than go to prison.
Shaneen Allen's offense was carrying her firearm, which was legally permitted in Pennsylvania, into New Jersey.
According to the local Shore News Today, prosecutor Jim McClain on Wednesday released a statement confirming his recommendation that Allen be offered a standard pretrial intervention program.
Earlier, the Atlantic County official had been insisting on a minimum of several years in jail for the single mom.
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The Shore News report said McClain's decision came after the New Jersey attorney general's office issued a new opinion on the state's 2008 Grave’s Act directive addressing out-of-state residents who hold valid permits to carry a firearm and are charged in New Jersey with illegal possession.
McClain said, "In applying the factors set out in the clarification, I determined that the defendant in this case should be offered the opportunity to be admitted into the Atlantic County PTI Program, and I have communicated that determination to the court and to defense counsel."
At Guns.com, Jennifer Cruz noted: "The prosecutor and judge handling the case received massive backlash after refusing to go easy on the single mother of two and forgo jail time by allowing her to enter the state's pretrial intervention program. Assistant prosecutor Deborah Hay said they were going to use Allen, whose trial was set to begin next month, as a type of example to deter others from this sort of activity in the future.
"The decision was no doubt considered a win by Allen, those who support her, as well as others involved in similar cases with the state, which McClain admitted he would be reviewing," Cruz noted.
At Townhall, Matt Vespa wrote: "Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain placed former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice into a diversion program, which allowed him to avoid jail time when he beat his then-fiance – Janay Palmer – in Atlantic City. Rice knocked out Palmer, who is now his wife. … Before this development, it seemed that owning a gun was worse than beating your wife in the Garden State."
WND has reported several times on the extensive publicity created for the case by the advocacy of the National Rifle Association.
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Allen already had spent 46 days in jail because she drove into New Jersey with her weapon, and she was fighting back against prosecutors' decision to offer her a deal that included a mandatory minimum of more than three years in prison.
Because New Jersey refuses to recognize Pennsylvania's concealed-carry permit, she was handcuffed and jailed after she told a New Jersey officer who stopped her for an alleged traffic violation that she was carrying. In Pennsylvania, the disclosure to police is required by law.
Allen, who has two young children, had obtained the weapon and the permit after being robbed twice in a year. The arrest came during a social outing that took her across the state border into New Jersey, where a state trooper alleged she committed a lane violation.
In an interview with the NRA, her attorney, Evan Nappen, said the judge had agreed to McClain's request for a delay in the case to re-evaluate it.
NRA commentator Ginny Simone obtained a copy of McClain's letter and read from it: "I am presently in the process of reviewing our office's position on the appropriate resolution of this matter."
WND reported the campaign by NRA to publicize the case.
Here's one report:
Said Nappen: "Is New Jersey that superior to the rest of the United States, that their license is so sacred and sacrosanct, that they cannot recognize a single other license based on a Second Amendment right?"
New Jersey Assemblyman Michael Carroll, calling the state "freedom hell," says the law is "insane."
Prosecutors earlier had refused permission for Allen, a medical assistant, to enter a diversion program for first offenders, even though evidence showed she made an "honest mistake."
"I have to worry about spending three years in state person without my kids. Where's the justice in that?" Allen asked.
Her advocates say a federal law providing reciprocity for recognition of gun permits might be the only solution, since "New Jersey's hopeless."
Assemblyman Ron Dancer has introduced a bill that would give judges the option of lesser penalties for visitors who inadvertently violate state law.
He said it's "unconscionable" that Allen faces "mandatory time in prison for telling the truth."
"This is about justice and constitutional rights," he said.
Dancer's comments:
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