Ben Wassell SAFE Act Appeal Filed

[Jim Ostrowski]

Last week, I filed an appeal for Ben Wassell, the first man convicted of SAFE Act-related charges.

Here is the brief:


I trust you will find the brief very interesting. Ben's an ex-Marine with a family. If you would like to help defray his legal expenses, follow this link.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

Well that didn't work. Not sure why and cannot find the delete button. Murphy's Law.

 

[Burzum]

For now I will take "judicial notice" that you did a fine job crafting your brief; citizens everywhere in NYS would offer their gratitude if they knew your heroic efforts.

 

[MadScientist]

Keep us posted Jim I’m curious

 

[Robin]

God Bless.
Robin

 

[ManrisFrack]

I wish I could read the brief. He's the one who sold to an undercover who claimed to be a felon. I'm very curious as to how you get around that.

 

[Phauxtoe]

Vet any links before you send any money
Check to make sure this guy is on the up and up.

Lots of go fund me fraud going around!

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

 

[FLA45fan]

Ben Wassell is a Marine vet from my hometown of Silver Creek NY. He originally went to a local gun store (FFL), JJ Guns to get help on trying to modify the gun. They informed him that they couldn't help him, but apparently were pretty quick to inform the State Police . . .

Need the link Jim.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

Here is the brief:


Here is the fundraising page:


I hope we have a packed courtroom in Rochester at oral argument, TBA.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

I tried several times to post the brief. Sorry. It's posted on my Twitter account and Facebook page.
JimOstrowski (@JimOstrowski) | Twitter
Jim Ostrowski

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

Let me know if you can bring up the brief, thanks.

 

[FLA45fan]

I am reading the brief right now.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

I am reading the brief right now.

great.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

Just so people know where I am coming from. I have practiced law for 35 years, doing trials and appeals in state and federal courts in civil and criminal cases. I like to joke that there are exactly two lawyers in Buffalo who do what I do. The other guy represents rich people and I represent the rest.

I have been handling gun cases for several years as I am a strong Second Amendment supporter. However, I am slowly moving out of the law and into publishing and activism so I do not plan to take on any more major gun cases. I will, however, finish all pending cases. My biggest pending cases are this one, in the state system, and a challenge to the Sullivan Act pending in the Second Circuit.

These are public interest cases that can only be crowd-funded. My clients cannot afford "Downtown rates." I'm not getting rich on these cases, TO SAY THE LEAST. Other attorneys are now welcome to get in on the "gravy" effective immediately.

 

[ProgSpear]

@Jim Ostrowski , IANAL so please excuse my ignorance, but it seems to me the meat of this brief appears in section VII, where you present the “real” second amendment arguments. The rest of it reads like nitpicking clintonesque word parsing to me. Can you share why it’s structured this way? I think you are setting a stage, but I’m not really understanding exactly what it is or why.

And thank you for your work.

 

[ManrisFrack]

I'm only about 20 pages in so far, but it appears that he was never charged with selling to a prohibited person. I just wanted to set the record straight.

I remember this case being discussed at the other forum and that the allegations of selling to a prohibited person negatively affected people's opinions.

 

[Blimey]

Jim, your last attempt with the PDF posted well.

For dummies or people with ADHD, can you summarize what the charges and the defense are in a few sentences? I know it's hard to compress 58 pages down

 

[Toecutter]

Does anyone here frequent jjs gun shop, the place that ratted on this guy? Just putting it out there.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

@Jim Ostrowski , IANAL so please excuse my ignorance, but it seems to me the meat of this brief appears in section VII, where you present the “real” second amendment arguments. The rest of it reads like nitpicking clintonesque word parsing to me. Can you share why it’s structured this way? I think you are setting a stage, but I’m not really understanding exactly what it is or why.

And thank you for your work.

The 4th Department is not a friendly place for the 2nd Amendment as I have found so that's in there for further appeals. The core of the case is poor jury instructions. That's not a technicality and that's our best chance to win on appeal.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

I'm only about 20 pages in so far, but it appears that he was never charged with selling to a prohibited person. I just wanted to set the record straight.

I remember this case being discussed at the other forum and that the allegations of selling to a prohibited person negatively affected people's opinions.

That's correct and all three charges depend on unlawful possession which we did not think was proven.

 

[ManrisFrack]

Looks good to me, for all that matters. It may be a little heavy handed with blaming progressivism and referencing your own book but as you said, the 2nd Amendment isn't likely to win you this particular appeal. I don't think you're wrong, just that the argument isn't likely to sway a court.

The brief does seem to paint well the appearance of an incompetent defense and a biased trial.

 

[Jim Ostrowski]

Looks good to me, for all that matters. It may be a little heavy handed with blaming progressivism and referencing your own book but as you said, the 2nd Amendment isn't likely to win you this particular appeal. I don't think you're wrong, just that the argument isn't likely to sway a court.

The brief does seem to paint well the appearance of an incompetent defense and a biased trial.

That's a fair assessment. I could have added that my book discusses a prior case of mine, Bordeleau v. NY State, as having been wrongly decided due to using ideology over the text of the Constitution. Not to brag, but my book is the first to lay out a clear definition of the term progressive. That's why I wrote it--because no one seemed to know exactly what the term means.

 

[FLA45fan]

Does anyone here frequent jjs gun shop, the place that ratted on this guy? Just putting it out there.

Frequent? No. Been in the place. Actually bought a couple of guns when I first got back here but don't set foot in the place anymore. The husband is friendly but never around. The wife runs the place - loudmouthed and knows very little. Insulting when trying to be funny, never gets to the point when discussing product(probably because she doesn't know anything). Very little product in the store - it's a wonder they stay in business. No more visits from me

 

[RBean]

Good luck. Hopeless in NY. Always a possibility the Supreme Court might take it in the future.