Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

  1. #1
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Heart of Dixie
    Posts
    36,012

    Anti-gun Va. lawmaker who brandished AK-47 in legislature was disbarred after brutal

    Another violent and corrupt liberal. Sounds as though if a person is barred from practicing law, they become politicians. JMO
    Anti-gun Va. lawmaker who brandished AK-47 in legislature was disbarred after brutal 1999 assault


    01/20/2013
    David Martosko
    Executive Editor




    A Virginia lawmaker who drew gasps from his colleagues when he brandished a borrowed AK-47 during an anti-gun speech Thursday was found guilty in 2002 of committing a vicious 1999 assault, was sanctioned for legal misconduct while prosecuting a rape case, spent six months in jail for contempt of a federal court, and saw his law license revoked in 2003.

    Democratic Delegate Joseph Morrissey brought the rifle to the floor of the House of Delegates to demonstrate how easy it is to carry firearms in Virginia. Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert interrupted Morrissey’s speech to ask him to remove his finger from inside the gun’s trigger-guard — a basic gun-safety practice.

    “I don’t think you should be able to possess an assault rifle,” Morrissey told
    But while Morrissey introduced a gun-control bill Thursday aimed at reducing criminal violence in Virginia, he has a history that involves physical violence of another kind. (RELATED: Politician responsible for brutal assault may run for Va. attorney general)

    Morrissey paid a man $500,000 in 2007 to settle a 2002 court judgment against him, related to a 1999 physical assault.

    According to legal brief filed by the victim’s attorneys, Morrissey shouted, “I’m going to kill you. I’m going to beat your head in,” before beating the victim and “smash[ing] his head into the corner of a brick wall.”

    The 2003 revocation of Morrissey’s law license followed that courtroom reckoning, but by then his disciplinary record in the legal profession was already a lengthy one.

    After he applied for the reinstatement of his law license, the Virginia State Bar listed a litany of Morrissey’s misdeeds when it published his petition.
    That list included the December 1993 suspension of Morrissey’s law license for six months following a complaint from a rape victim in a case he prosecuted. Morrissey, she said, allowed her rapist to plea-bargain his case down to a misdemeanor after his father paid $50,000 — half to the victim and the other half to charities Morrissey chose. She also testified that Morrissey hid the details of the plea-bargain from her.

    The bar had already sanctioned Morrissey in June of that year when it learned of his misconduct in a felony drunk-driving case. Without asking the court’s permission, Morrissey issued a new arrest warrant with a reduced charge of misdemeanor reckless driving. He was required to write a formal letter of apology to the judge.

    By that time, the bar was accustomed to hearing about Morrissey.

    Read more: Anti-gun Va. lawmaker who brandished AK-47 during legislative session has record including disbarment, jail | The Daily Caller

  2. #2
    Super Moderator Newmexican's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Heart of Dixie
    Posts
    36,012
    FLASHBACK: Anti-gun lawmaker who brandished borrowed AK-47 once ‘lost’ 2 semi-automatic weapons police loaned him

    2:29 AM 01/22/2013

    David Martosko
    Executive Editor

    Virginia Delegate Joseph Morrissey, who became infamous online last week when he brandished an AK-47 during his anti-gun speech before the state legislature, once told a judge he “lost or misplaced” two semiautomatic assault-style weapons, including two that he borrowed from a state police forensic lab.
    “I don’t think you should be able to possess an assault rifle,” Morrissey told ABC News on Friday.

    But the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported in April 1994 that the arrest of a heroin dealer led police to discover an Uzi submachine gun that was supposed to be under Morrissey’s control.

    That gun, along with two other semiautomatic weapons — a TEC-9 capable of firing 72 rounds without reloading, and another unspecified rifle — were among four weapons Morrissey used as props when he discussed drugs and violence at schools, and during civic meetings.

    The suspected drug dealer “was arrested in Richmond … and the gentleman had a storage locker rented to himself in Chesterfield County,” State Police Special Agent Anita Derby told the Times-Dispatch then. “A search warrant was conducted on the storage locker and that’s where the gun was found.”

    The Uzi and the TEC-9 disappeared after police loaned them to Morrissey in May 1991. He said in 1994 that the firearms had been missing since at least December 1992,when Virginia Department of Forensic Science director Paul Ferrara asked for their safe return.

    Although Morrissey said he believed the Uzi and the TEC-9 were stolen from his office, sources inside the former prosecutor’s office told the Times-Dispatch in August 1993 that he never reported them missing.

    At the time, Morrissey’s office told the newspaper that the third rifle was accounted for.

    Morrissey did not respond to an email seeking comment Monday evening. He has said the AK-47 he held aloft Thursday in the Virginia Statehouse was a borrowed weapon, but he has not elaborated on its origin. (RELATED: Anti-gun Va. lawmaker who brandished AK-47 in legislature was disbarred after brutal 1999 assault)

    In April 1993, the judge who allowed the crime lab to loan Morrissey the guns ordered him to produce the firearms and explain what happened to them.

    The guns, Morrissey told Circuit Judge Thomas N. Nance, apparently were “either lost or misplaced,” according to the Times-Dispatch.

    Morrissey, the newspaper reported, was accustomed to keeping the three semiautomatic weapons and a “street-sweeper” shotgun in a green, zippered canvas bag on the back seat of his car, which was often unlocked.

    “Detectives assigned to the office often found the bag and locked it in the trunk of the car,” accoding to the Times-Dispatch.

    Ferrara’s office reclaimed the Uzi after police retrieved it from the drug-distribution suspect, but never saw the other loaner gun again.

    “I was glad to get at least one of them back,” he said in 1994. “To my knowledge the other weapon … is still God knows where.”

    Ferrara, a pioneer in the use of DNA to solve cold-case crimes, retured in 2006 and died in 2011.

    His office first inquired about the weapons after Morrissey Morrissey stepped down from his job as a Richmond, Va. Commonwealth’s Attorney. That resignation followed Morrissey’s indictment on charges of bribery, perjury and misuse of public funds.

    Morrissey prevailed in the 2003 bribery trial, where he was accused of allowing a rapist’s father to pay $50,000 — half to the victim and half to a list of charities Morrissey chose — in exchange for reducing the criminal charge to a misdemeanor.

    Four of those charities, The Washington Post later reported, were churches in African-American communities where Morrissey had worked hard to build political support.

    Despite his acquittal, a three-judge panel later suspended his law license for six months in a hearing related to his handling of the rape case.

    Prosecutors ultimately withdrew the perjury indictment, and a Richmond judge dismissed the remaining corruption charge in December 1993. That case hinged on claims that Morrissey ordered employees in his Commonwealth’s Attorney office to perform political work for his ultimately unsuccessful re-election campaign.

    The Daily Caller reported Sunday that Morrissey was found guilty in 2002 of committing a vicious 1999 assault during which he threatened the life of his victim. His legal career has been pock-marked with disciplinary findings, including six months in jail for contempt of a federal court and the 2003 revocation of his Virginia law license.

    That license was restored in December 2011.

    Read more: FLASHBACK: Anti-gun lawmaker who brandished borrowed AK-47 once 'lost' 2 semiautomatic weapons police loaned him | The Daily Caller

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •