The Aldon Smith thread

Originally posted by SportsFan:

No, I was just sharing my experience. I am actually a very sad human being who is afraid to go outside.

Originally posted by midrdan:
Good insight and I hope that the people that are in charge of prosecuting Aldon have the same empathy - everybody deserves a second chance and an opportunity to change. But assault rifles are a pretty hot topic right now, this is a high profile case, and the District Attorney is a political office. And for every 49ers fan that hopes Aldon Smith gets out of this without having to waste the prime of his career in jail, there is a parent who sends their kids to school everyday worried about gun violence. I don't believe Aldon Smith is a danger to anybody but himself but the case is a bit bigger than him, unfortunately.

Thanks.

The politics are the only thing I'm worried about. I tend to avoid paying attention to them... they upset me too often.

Originally posted by real9erfan:
I'm an immigration attorney, but I get a lot of clients that have criminal issues, which affect their immigration cases. In the majority of cases, the records show that they were initially charged with a felony but later pled down to a misdemeanor. Now for the purposes of immigration law, it doesn't matter for the most part whether a crime is considered a felony or misdemeanor under state law, it could still carry consequences in immigration; and this is always an issue we have with public defenders and criminal defense attorneys who know nothing about immigration law. But they always get their clients to plead to misdemeanors and of the hundreds of cases I've seen, I think one actually had gone to trial.

It's just not worth the risk.

Originally posted by jreff22:

I'm curious to know how he transported them back and what he was thinking purchasing them. I give it a decent chance that whoever sold him the guns warned him. His CA drivers license, I would imagine would have the sales person say something about legality. You don't want your customer arrested or coming back at you pissed because you didn't give them all the info.

Where is Aldon from originally? Does he have a residence outside of California? Do we know for a fact his license is issued by California and not another state?

Originally posted by facestabber:

Originally posted by jreff22:
I'm curious to know how he transported them back and what he was thinking purchasing them. I give it a decent chance that whoever sold him the guns warned him. His CA drivers license, I would imagine would have the sales person say something about legality. You don't want your customer arrested or coming back at you pissed because you didn't give them all the info.

Where is Aldon from originally? Does he have a residence outside of California? Do we know for a fact his license is issued by California and not another state?

Good point. He may have a drivers license or ID from another state, i.e. Missouri.

Originally posted by boast:

Originally posted by jreff22:
I'm curious to know how he transported them back and what he was thinking purchasing them. I give it a decent chance that whoever sold him the guns warned him. His CA drivers license, I would imagine would have the sales person say something about legality. You don't want your customer arrested or coming back at you pissed because you didn't give them all the info.

that depends on whether or not the AZ gun store employee knows CA gun laws. i would guess the employee would not.

It is not the responsibility of the gunshop to inform Aldon.

Most states allow long gun purchases from out of state parties. That doesnt mean that the shop HAS to sell to out of state, just that they can. Here in ID alot of places wont sell to people from ban states such as CA. Regardless its not the responsibility of a gun shop to know gun laws outside of their state.

As far as i know, the sale of pistols to out of state residents is illegal in all states.

I know quite a few people that have residences outside of their home state, and do indeed purchase long arms outside of their home state. Sometimes they stay within the state they were purchased, sometimes they return to the home state. It is ALWAYS the responsibility of the gun owner to know state laws.

For example, i have a CCW that is good in alot of states, but not ALL states. I go into CA with my CCW, i dont get to claim ignorance if i am charged. On the other hand there are states where i can come and go as i please across state lines and my CCW covers me.

Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense.

Originally posted by Nuns:

Originally posted by boast:

Originally posted by jreff22:
I'm curious to know how he transported them back and what he was thinking purchasing them. I give it a decent chance that whoever sold him the guns warned him. His CA drivers license, I would imagine would have the sales person say something about legality. You don't want your customer arrested or coming back at you pissed because you didn't give them all the info.

that depends on whether or not the AZ gun store employee knows CA gun laws. i would guess the employee would not.

You have to have an address in the state you're buying a gun in order to purchase it. I don't think you run into Nevada with a CA drivers license and buy a weapon.

Wrong, it varies from state to state, but the majority of states do sell Long Guns to out of state customers. As far as i know it is illegal in all states to purchase a pistol with an out of state ID.

Originally posted by Marvin49:

Originally posted by Wrathman:
Do all these charges mean Aldon is never coming back? Felonies are serious.

No.

It means everyone is going apesh*t over nothing. LOL.

Being charged with a felony and actually getting convicted of one are very, very different things. This will never see a court room and will be plead down.

Aldon will probably be back after the bye and face a suspension at the beginning of next season.

If he does indeed learn something from this experience this will all amount to little more than a blip on the radar. Thats the only big if here.

He won't spend a day in prison. Bet on it.

Worth repeating. He'll eventually get probation or a slight jail sentence commuted for community service and work furlough at the most. The judicial system will be done sometime during next off season. He'll start the season on suspension - four to six games is my guess. And then, he'll be back playing and sacking QB's. As usual, massive over-reaction and panic are the order of the day on the Web Zone.

Read an article today speculating the DA is using the weapons charge to get Aldon to plea on the DUI. Can't find it now but it was interesting the way thing line up. The author wrote about AZ gun laws vs CA gun laws and how the DA would have to prove Aldon knowingly broke the CA law beyond a doubt. Hope the writer was correct.

Originally posted by b9er37:
Read an article today speculating the DA is using the weapons charge to get Aldon to plea on the DUI. Can't find it now but it was interesting the way thing line up. The author wrote about AZ gun laws vs CA gun laws and how the DA would have to prove Aldon knowingly broke the CA law beyond a doubt. Hope the writer was correct.

Doubtful. They have been working on bringing the charges for awhile now. Once again, Aldon didnt have to KNOWINGLY do anything. Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense.

The thing i wonder is how ticky tacky the assault weapons charges are. Did he have any CA compliant parts added when he brought it into CA? etc. If he can proe an attempt to make it CA compliant, then maybe he could have a slight arguement, but if he just brought an ar-15 from AZ to CA and stuck it in his closet as is, than he likely has no leg to stand on.

Another thing is CA is very liberal on what it considers an "assault rifle". I would be interested in finding out exactly what said rifle was.

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:

Originally posted by b9er37:
Read an article today speculating the DA is using the weapons charge to get Aldon to plea on the DUI. Can't find it now but it was interesting the way thing line up. The author wrote about AZ gun laws vs CA gun laws and how the DA would have to prove Aldon knowingly broke the CA law beyond a doubt. Hope the writer was correct.

Doubtful. They have been working on bringing the charges for awhile now. Once again, Aldon didnt have to KNOWINGLY do anything. Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense.

The thing i wonder is how ticky tacky the assault weapons charges are. Did he have any CA compliant parts added when he brought it into CA? etc. If he can proe an attempt to make it CA compliant, then maybe he could have a slight arguement, but if he just brought an ar-15 from AZ to CA and stuck it in his closet as is, than he likely has no leg to stand on.

Another thing is CA is very liberal on what it considers an "assault rifle". I would be interested in finding out exactly what said rifle was.

Pretty sure that isn't true.

What irks me the most is why wait so long?

Also the law is stupid to begin with. CA can suck my D when it comes to their gun laws and one of the many reasons I will never move back even though that's where my mom dad sister and most of my family live.

Originally posted by LoneWolf:

Not really.

For real?

Stabbed at a club.
DUI in a school zone hours before practice.
Discharging firearms at a party while drunk.

If he wasn't famous he'd be in prison.

Btw Idaho here is the link the other poster referenced: http://www.ninersnation.com/2013/10/10/4821462/aldon-smith-charges-felony-weapons-possession-dui-political-games

According to that post (no real credibility) the charges are specific intent crimes http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Specific+Intent

I'm not a lawyer though.

Originally posted by IdahoNiner:

Originally posted by b9er37:
Read an article today speculating the DA is using the weapons charge to get Aldon to plea on the DUI. Can't find it now but it was interesting the way thing line up. The author wrote about AZ gun laws vs CA gun laws and how the DA would have to prove Aldon knowingly broke the CA law beyond a doubt. Hope the writer was correct.

Doubtful. They have been working on bringing the charges for awhile now. Once again, Aldon didnt have to KNOWINGLY do anything. Ignorance of the law is not a valid defense.

The thing i wonder is how ticky tacky the assault weapons charges are. Did he have any CA compliant parts added when he brought it into CA? etc. If he can proe an attempt to make it CA compliant, then maybe he could have a slight arguement, but if he just brought an ar-15 from AZ to CA and stuck it in his closet as is, than he likely has no leg to stand on.

Another thing is CA is very liberal on what it considers an "assault rifle". I would be interested in finding out exactly what said rifle was.

No, but it would have to be proved that he went to Arizona with the express intent to purchase weapons and bring them to CA in order for it to be a felony. That's nearly impossible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt since he was in Arizona to play a football game.