After being convicted of a crime, have you ever wondered if owning or carrying a firearm would be possible? What types of convictions prevent a citizen from exercising their God given Second Amendment right and is it possible to restore those right?
Hello everyone, my name is Joseph Radzwion IV, Your Trusted Attorney with Radzwion Law, PLLC, and this post will cover how deferrals or delayed sentencing affects the firearms rights restoration process.
In a previous post we discussed the court petitioning process, you can find that post linked at the bottom of the page. But for this post lets look at the law that prevents a convicted felon from possessing a firearm. MCL 750.224f states that a person convicted of a felony shall not possess a firearm.
By Statute
But, what if your conviction was plead under a deferral statute such as MCL 333.7411 or MCL 769.4A or MCL 762.11 "HYTA"? Well, under MCL 333.7411 the law states that a discharge and dismissal is without adjudication of guilt and DOES NOT constitute a conviction for the purposes of deferred sentencing or any disqualification imposed by law. Likewise under MCL 762.11 or "HYTA" if a citizen were to complete a sentence under the terms imposed by HYTA, the law does not consider the completion as a judgment of conviction against that citizen.
Additionally under MCL 762.14, a citizen who is released from the status of youthful trainee under MCL 333.7411 shall not suffer the loss of right or privilege following the completion of such program. The law reads in part,
"An assignment of an individual to the status of youthful trainee as provided in this chapter is not a conviction for a crime and, except as provided in subsection (3), the individual assigned to the status of youthful trainee shall not suffer a civil disability or loss of right or privilege following his or her release from that status because of his or her assignment as a youthful trainee."
In other words, MCL 762.14 is saying a citizen who completes the terms under MCL 333.7411 cannot be striped of a right or privilege for being sentenced to complete the terms under 7411.
Similarly MCL 769.4A states that "[u]pon fulfillment of the terms and conditions, the court shall discharge the person and dismiss the proceedings against the person. Discharge and dismissal under this section must be without adjudication of guilt and is not a conviction for purposes of this section or for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime. . . "
By Caselaw
If you have been convicted of a felony, the Concealed Pistol Licensing Act or "CPLA" will disqualify a citizen from applying for a Concealed Pistol Licenses "CPL" here in the state of Michigan. However, the court has ruled a citizen who has successfully completed probation under MCL 333.7411 shall not be considered convicted as a felony under the CPLA. See Carr v. Midland CPL Bd, (2003)
See our video below on these weeks post or check out our blog page for more topics.
In Conclusion
If a citizen has been arrested for a crime and the court used a deferral statute to delay the sentence, there is an argument to be made that a felony conviction has not occurred by law and that firearms rights may not have been stripped away from the citizen.
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REMEMBER: Our posts should never be taken as legal advice. You should ALWAYS consult a Trusted Attorney with your legal questions.