Sawyer Robison - Acquitted of attempted murder in 2015, pleas to firearms charges

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rommelrommel
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Sawyer Robison - Acquitted of attempted murder in 2015, pleas to firearms charges

Post by rommelrommel »

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... 49?cmp=rss
A central Alberta man found not guilty last year of eight charges he faced after a wild shootout with Mounties pleaded guilty Monday to two firearms offences.

Sawyer Robison had faced eight charges, including attempted murder, for the 2012 shootings of two Alberta RCMP officers in a rural house near Killam, Alta.


Robison was acquitted last year. But Crown prosecutors pursued two more weapons-related charges against him, both stemming from the 2012 incident.


Robison pleaded guilty Monday in Wetaskiwin Court of Queen's Bench to possession of firearms with the serial numbers removed, and to possession of prohibited devices, including a prohibited cartridge magazine for a semi-automatic weapon.


A joint submission called for a $1,500 fine and 30 days in jail, which he had already served.


"We were prepared to proceed to trial, but in the end this was a mutual decision, and my client wanted to get it over with and move on with his life," defence lawyer Brian Beresh said outside court.


Court heard Robison still lives on the family farm and is engaged to be married.


During the initial trial, Beresh argued it was Robison's uncle, Bradford Clarke, who shot at police with two guns on Feb 7, 2012. He argued Robison did not fire any weapons in the incident that targeted two Mounties.

Const. Sheldon Shah and Const. Sidney Gaudette were injured while they tried to execute a search warrant along with two other officers.


When asked why relatively minor charges against Robison were pursued when he was exonerated last year, Beresh said: "I think sometimes feelings run very deep and might motivate some actions which calmer minds might not suggest are appropriate."
The acquittal for anyone interested. It appears that they couldn't prove that he took part in his uncle's shooting of police.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.3058230
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Re: Sawyer Robison - Acquitted of attempted murder in 2015, pleas to firearms charges

Post by arayder »

rommelrommel wrote: Robison pleaded guilty Monday in Wetaskiwin Court of Queen's Bench to possession of firearms with the serial numbers removed, and to possession of prohibited devices, including a prohibited cartridge magazine for a semi-automatic weapon.
Why people remove serial numbers (SN) from firearms is beyond me. Removing the SNs comes into play when somebody owns a gun plans to use it in a crime and then toss it away, or suspects the gun was used in a crime. If the reason for removing the SN is that they don't want the gun to be tried to a crime they plan they would be better off just throwing it in the river after the crime. Otherwise they are just asking for trouble.

With most firearms there are other places inside the weapon where the the SN is etched and on occasion the person taking off the numbers misses those places. There are cases of people tossing away badly altered guns without realizing there are SNs inside the guns and upon them being found they were tied back to them.

It seems to me the best way to pull off a gun crime (in the U.S.) is to by a legal gun through a private buy during which you either produce false ID or don't show any ID at all. The gun can't be traced to you and if the cops, for some reason, find it before the crime you are legal. After the crime you toss it and when it is found there is no link to you.

I was in a gun smith's shop years ago while the smith was calling the BATF about a widow who had unknowingly brought in for sale a couple of her late husband's pistols which had had the SN removed. Fortunately for the lady, the law requires that the person knowingly has possession of the altered firearm.
Last edited by arayder on Tue Dec 13, 2016 8:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Sawyer Robison - Acquitted of attempted murder in 2015, pleas to firearms charges

Post by The Observer »

Even if the gun has only one serial number etched in the gun, removing it does not mean that the number cannot be retrieved. Forensic science can re-create the numbers by examining the stress in the metal underneath where the original etching occurred.
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