Attorney Goldstein Wins Dismissal of Gun Charges at Preliminary Hearing
Criminal Defense Lawyer Zak Goldstein
Philadelphia criminal defense attorney Zak T. Goldstein, Esquire recently won the full dismissal of gun charges at the preliminary hearing in the case of Commonwealth v. A.V.
In that case, A.V. was charged with illegal possession of a firearm on the streets of Philadelphia, possession of a concealed weapon without a permit, and possessing an instrument of crime after Philadelphia police officers arrested him for allegedly starting to engage in a drug transaction. Officers testified that while on routine patrol, they saw A.V. and another man standing in the street. A.V. received money from the other man and then went into a nearby van. The officers could not see what he was doing in the van, and someone down the block started to yell police. At that point, the other man walked into a corner store, and A.V. began to walk down the sidewalk.
Police stopped the other man in the corner store, arrested A.V., and then searched the van. They found money in the front of the van and a gun hidden under some clothes in the back. They also found a quantity of drugs in the street, but they did not find any drugs on the man with whom they believed A.V. had been engaging in a drug transaction.
A.V. retained Attorney Goldstein for the preliminary hearing. Attorney Goldstein cross-examined the officers on the fact that they had not seen A.V. provide the other person with any drugs, the van was not registered to him or linked to him by any paperwork, neither man had actually run away, the officers had not seen A.V. drop any drugs on the ground, and the gun that they recovered had been hidden under clothes in the back of the van such that someone could go into the vehicle without even realizing that the gun was there.
Given the fact that A.V. never actually possessed the gun, the ties to the van were tenuous at best, A.V. did not run or have any drugs on him, and police had done no forensic testing to see if A.V.'s DNA or fingerprints were on the gun, the Municipal Court judge agreed that the Commonwealth simply failed to prove that A.V. actually or constructively possessed a firearm without a license on the streets of Philadelphia. Accordingly, the judge dismissed all of the charges.
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