{"id":47175,"date":"2014-09-15T12:05:48","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T17:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=47175"},"modified":"2014-09-15T09:54:55","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T14:54:55","slug":"more-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=47175","title":{"rendered":"More Abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

The same prosecutor who approved a pre-trial diversion program for football player Ray Rice, a fairly routine step in New Jersey for first-time offenders (especially non-violent ones, which Rice was not <\/em>alleged to be)\u00a0– and the judge who ordered the diversion – is doing his best to throw the book at a 27 year old black single mother of two<\/a> whose only “crime” was inadvertently driving into Camden, NJ with a handgun that was perfectly legal in Philadelphia, and for which she had valid Pennsylvania carry permit.<\/p>\n

Shaneen Allen wants to know what makes her so different from Ray Rice.<\/p>\n

Allen, a 27-year-old Philadelphia mother who says she mistakenly entered New Jersey with a handgun legally registered in her state, was not accepted into a pre-trial intervention program, unlike the former Baltimore Ravens running back who was caught on an elevator surveillance camera punching his then-fianc\u00e9e and current wife. The disparate decisions, made by the same prosecutor and approved by the same judge, leave Allen facing more than three years in prison and Rice free, though disgraced.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It was entirely a matter of the prosecutor’s discretion – and that of the judge confirming the decision:<\/p>\n

Atlantic County prosecutor Jim McClain recommended Rice for the program in May, months after denying the single mother’s application. And Superior Court Judge Michael Donio, who signed off on the agreement that spared Rice jail time, denied a motion by Allen’s attorney to force McClain to reconsider.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Let’s make sure we’re clear on what happened: \u00a0Ms. Allen crossed the Ben Franklin Bridge from Philly into Camden. \u00a0Before she could turn around and get back to Philly, she got pulled over for a routine traffic stop. \u00a0When she showed the cop her license and insurance, she also showed him her carry permit and said she had a gun in her purse. \u00a0That might have been too much honesty – according to her attorney, Evan Nappen (with whom I spoke last night while sitting in with Mark Walters on “Armed American”), the judge told her she was, basically, in trouble for being honest. \u00a0 It may also have not been a bad idea; if the cop had for whatever reason seen or found an unannounced gun, it could have gotten sticky.<\/p>\n

Ms. Allen’s trial has been rescheduled, and switched to a new judge – which is probably a good thing for her.<\/p>\n

But there’s a great question for the people of New Jersey; why are there two tiers of justice in Atlantic County? \u00a0One for former Rutgers football stars, and one for commoners?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The same prosecutor who approved a pre-trial diversion program for football player Ray Rice, a fairly routine step in New Jersey for first-time offenders (especially non-violent ones, which Rice was not alleged to be)\u00a0– and the judge who ordered the diversion – is doing his best to throw the book at a 27 year old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47175","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-and-punishment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47175"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47197,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47175\/revisions\/47197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}