Florida Man May Have Been Wrongly Arrested for Felon in Possession of a Firearm
An article about a possible wrongful arrest on gun charges caught the attention of our West Palm Beach firearms criminal defense attorneys. Tampa’s News Channel 8 reported April 9 that Mark Anthony Rattenni of Palm Harbor was arrested by Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies April 7 for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. However, Rattenni says he doesn’t have a felony conviction for the crimes in question, assault and forgery charges that were prosecuted in Yonkers, N.Y. New York prosecutors back up that claim, saying Rattenni pleaded guilty to lesser crimes that were misdemeanors.
The trouble for Rattenni started when he was visited by the Secret Service for questioning about possible threats to the president. The Secret Service would not disclose whether it discovered anything relevant to that case during the questioning. However, officers did notice that Rattenni had a handgun in his apartment. Based on the belief that he had been convicted of felony assault and forgery in New York, they had Pinellas County deputies arrest him. However, Rattenni pointed out, he has a valid concealed weapons permit in Florida, something he shouldn’t have been able to get if he had been convicted on a felony assault charge. The chief assistant State’s Attorney for Pinellas County, Bruce Bartlett, said he looked into it after a reporter called and discovered that Rattenni was probably right, although his office was awaiting confirmation from New York.
As Miami gun crimes criminal defense lawyers, we wonder how many Rattennis are out there who don’t happen to have press coverage. Everyone makes mistakes now and then, but a mistake that keeps an innocent man in jail for nearly a week is very serious. As he pointed out in the article, just being arrested was enough to keep him out of work for several days, which will hurt his income and possibly his standing at work. Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in Florida is a second-degree felony itself, which means Rattenni could have been looking at up to 15 years in jail if convicted. And all of this stems from an investigation that apparently didn’t lead to an arrest. Like many NRA members, we support restrictions on gun ownership for people convicted of violent felonies -- but only those who were actually convicted, not just charged.
Law offices of Sebastian John Balliro, P.A. represents clients in a wide variety of firearms-related matters in Florida. Name partner Sebastian Balliro is an NRA referral attorney, and several of our attorneys are hunters, marksmen and collectors. We understand that gun laws sometimes go too far, infringing on our Second Amendment rights in their zeal to protect the public, and we vigorously defend gun owners who are unfairly swept up into the criminal justice system. Our Fort Lauderdale weapons crimes criminal defense attorneys represent people facing all types of gun-related charges, from simple possession to serious, violent crimes. We also handle civil legal matters in which someone is accused of overstepping laws regarding import or export, sales, hunting or permit rights. And we’re proud to help people who have turned their lives around recover their civil right to own a gun.
If you’re charged with a firearms crime in Florida, you should call the firearms criminal defense experts at Balliro as soon as possible. To set up a free, confidential evaluation of your case, please contact us online or call toll-free from anywhere in Florida at 1-866-FIREARMS.
