Not Guilty – Gun Charge – Commonwealth v. R.W.

R.W. was charged with Carrying a Firearm Without a License and Carrying a Firearm when Prohibited.

The police testified at a jury trial that they stopped R.W. because they were investigating a shooting that had happened early in the area (for which R.W. was cleared within a few minutes). The police said that when they pulled over, they had not pulled their guns, but that R.W. immediately and unprovoked took off running.

One police officer chased him. Eventually, the other officer pulled his car around and hit R.W. with it, causing R.W. to slow down so the officer on foot could stop him. The cop in the car testified that he saw R.W. drop the gun when R.W. was hit by the car and that he was able to recover the gun under a nearby parked car.

Ms. Snyder convinced the jury that the officers’ story made no sense. The officers were allegedly investigating a shooting, but did not draw their guns? The officer chasing R.W. for many minutes never saw a gun in his hand, but the other officer did? One officer swore that no one else was on the street but that he had to pick up the gun for safety instead of holding it for DNA and fingerprint analysis?

The jury found that the testimony of one officer who had reasons to lie and had not done a competent job investigating the crime was not enough to convict. R.W. was found not guilty of all charges.