The felony charge of Criminal Possession of a Weapon as it relates to pistols, guns, revolvers and firearms, has been receiving the undivided attention of the media, criminal defense attorneys and even politicians since Plaxico Burress’ arrest. In fact, at the time of Burress’ arrest for gun possession in New York, many of these media outlets reached out to Saland Law PC to discuss the nature of the gun charge as well as the ramifications of the offense. CNNSI.Com as well as the AM New York utilized Jeremy Saland’s experience as a former Manhattan Prosecutor and as a NY criminal defense attorney to analyze the incident and explain the applicable law.
Once again, Mr. Saland’s knowledge and experience prosecuting and defending gun crimes was sought out by the media. The New Jersey Star-Ledger interviewed Mr. Saland and requested his legal analysis in the paper’s coverage of Mr. Burress’ court date earlier today.
As we know now, Mr. Burress’ case was in fact adjourned into a “holding pattern” in Manhattan Criminal Court where the prosecution will likely do one of four things. The first possibility between today and Mr. Burress’ next court date is that Mr. Burress may be indicted by the Grand Jury on the “C” felony where he faces between 3.5 to 15 years in state prison. A second possibility is that Mr. Burress agrees to accept an “SCI” or a Superior Court Information. This would allow Mr. Burress to avoid an indictment, but will permit him to plea to a lesser felony offense with less possible incarceration. A third option would be that the prosecution reduces the charges from a felony to a misdemeanor where the maximum term of jail would be one year. A fourth, albeit less likely option, would be for an alternate plea to be worked out where Mr. Burress would plea to a higher level crime and assuming he complies with certain requirements he would be able to withdraw the plea and enter a new plea to a lower level crime.
Like our readers, we do not know what conversations are taking pace between the parties behind closed doors. Whatever they may be, there is no guarantee as to what the end result will be. If you find yourself in a similar situation or charged with any crime, the criminal defense attorneys at Saland Law PC will make one very important guarantee – We will zealously fight for you to protect your rights and do our best to make all options available for your defense.