A convicted felon, who was busted in Detroit for illegally possessing a gun and 30 bags of marijuana, has caught a break.
Charges have been dropped against Dwight Robinson for what Fox 2's Charlie Langton says is a technicality over jaywalking.
Fox 2 reports that Robinson was initially arrested for jaywalking in an area known for drug trafficking. A search produced the gun and marijuana, and he was charged federally with drug trafficking. It's also illegal for a convicted felon to possess a gun.
But the jaywalking ticket was dismissed, and as a result, so were the more serious charges because of the jaywalking ticket.
"The ordinance says in order to be guilty of the violation, you have to impede vehicular traffic," Andrew Densemo, a lawyer for the Federal Defender Office, said of the jaywalking law. "My client crossed the street in a matter of two seconds."
Langton says, in other words,: Dwight Robinson wasn't technically jaywalking, Therefore, the cops shouldn't have stopped and searched him, and the drugs and gun, shouldn't have been found.
Langton says to his attorney:
"Some would say your client got off on a technicality."
"No, my client got off because the Constitution says that the laws have to be respected," Densemo said. "And the lesson you learn is that the rights of citizens can still be protected by the best legal system in the world."
