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austinrealtor wrote:Jim, rather than continue the back n forth, let me just ask .... what are you defending here?

I'm not defending anything. I'm trying to explain it.

The prosecutor is most likely not "a stoopid liberal who hates guns" -- not in McLennan County (though DA John Segrest is a Democratic). That's a pretty conservative area.

Prosecutors want to punish people who break the law as written. Sending people to jail costs the state and county real money. Getting a fine, probation (with associated fees), and forfeiture of property is punishment and a net gain for the county.

Mr. Shaver probably owns other handguns, and he can buy another one today. But the average defendant takes a hit by losing a weapon that cost anywhere from $300 to over $1,000. The law is supposed to treat a rich man and a poor man equally.

Mr. Shaver broke the law by intentionally carrying a firearm in a bar. He took his knocks. As others have said, he could have afforded to fight it; but his counsel probably told him not to count on being lucky twice in a row.

In my world, there would be no such thing as illegal weapons or places where weapons are prohibited. But we are obligated to obey the law that was created by the democratic process until such time as the law changes or is declared unconstitutional -- or take our chances.

I also wouldn't count on the weapon being scrapped. The county can sell it back into the private market, or it might just disappear from the property room.

- Jim

What's idiotic is that it is all for show and doesn't accomplish anything.

Things that are done "for show" accomplish something in the view of whatever percent of the population doesn't think hard (or at all) about these issues.

You never hear about poor ol' Bubba, Leroy, or Pedro. There are something like 4,000 UCW convictions a year in the state, IIRC. I'll bet 90% are plea bargains that involve forfeiting the weapon.

- Jim

Or is this just the prosecutor's idiotic way to tell the sheeple "see even though I couldn't put him in prison, I made sure he doesn't have a gun nor a license anymore"

What's idiotic about it? That is exactly what the prosecutor accomplished at no cost to the state.

Who on this forum would be shedding a tear for Leroy Jenkins or Pedro Gonzalez if said defendant lost his weapon after pleading to carrying in a bar?

- Jim

Shaver’s attorney, Dick DeGuerin, of Houston, said the Grammy-nominated Central Texas artist ...

I hope nobody thinks that Good-Ol'-Boy Jones from Nacogdoches who can't afford a lawyer like Mr. DeGuerin would get off this easy.

IANAL, etc., but I would think the no-contest plea and probation would mean no CHL for the next seven years, unless there is some other expensive legal maneuver available to those who can afford it.

- Jim

You never know.

If he had had a handgun large enough to recognize as a weapon, the other guy might have backed down before being shot. Or maybe not.

- Jim

I'm guessing from the description that the weapon was an NAA Black Widow or similar. They are not exactly bullseye weapons.

- Jim

DeGuerin, considered one of the state's best criminal defense lawyers, tried the case for free with three associates.

I don't know what's with that. Mr. DeGuerin is one of the highest-priced lawyers around.

It's impossible to say for sure, but I doubt any ordinary defendant with a lawyer he found in the phone book would have been found not guilty in this case.

Shaver still faces a charge of unlawful carrying of a handgun by a license holder for bringing his gun to Papa Joe's Texas Saloon the night of the shooting.

That could result in a felony conviction, and I don't see a legal defense for it.

I have to ask what Mr. Shaver would have done if he had not been armed.

During cross-examination, prosecutor Beth Toben ... suggested that he could have just left the bar if he had felt so intimidated.

That would have been "chicken" Shaver replied.

I understand that mentality. It gets a person who has it into this kind of situation.

- Jim