FOS shareholder Jake Manian won a not guilty verdict last week for a client who was charged with felony possession of a firearm. A Milwaukee County jury found that the client has not possessed the firearm as that term is defined under the law.
Law Enforcement located the firearm inside a shoebox in a bedroom of an apartment rented by the client’s aunt and uncle. The client was located in the bedroom when police arrived and police located items of mail addressed to the client at that address in the bedroom. Prosecutors argued that the client possessed the firearm because it was in his bedroom.
Manian countered there was no evidence that the client knew of the gun or intended to exercise control over the gun. Manian pointed out that law enforcement failed to investigate other people connected to the bedroom who could have possessed the gun. The gun did not contain the client’s fingerprints and it was never tested for DNA. Further, the gun was not found out in the open where anyone would see the gun. It took the jury less than an hour to reach their verdict.
