The ex-Marine busted for trying to check his Indiana-registered gun at the Empire State Building got a no-jail, misdemeanor deal today.
“I definitely did not know it was illegal to bring a gun into New York City,” Ryan Jerome, 29, of West Bend, said after pleading guilty in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Jerome insists he’d checked a gun law reciprocity site on his smart phone, but a formatting error made it look like Indiana-registered guns are ok in New York, rather than the other way around.
“As far as Indiana goes, everybody’s grandma’s got a gun,” he joked.
Jerome’s September arrest had sparked headlines.
It is illegal for out of state residents to possess a weapon in New York, even if it is legally registered in their home state.
Jerome, who carries a gun because his job as a jeweler requires him to transport gold to refineries, was initially charged with felony weapons possession under New York’s tough gun possession laws, a charge that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 3 1/2 years prison.
Prosecutors signaled early on that they might agree to a misdemeanor, no-jail compromise; still, Jerome’s plight, and his Marine ties, rallied fellow leathernecks to start a nationwide letter-writing campaign.
It later emerged that Jerome had been investigated for a one-month unauthorized absence from training in California, and had been summary court martialed in 2005 after admitting to marijuana.
His lawyer, Mark Bederow, had portrayed Jerome as a patriot and hero; after the court martial was revealed, he said Jerome’s military troubles had stemmed from his being a whistleblower after witnessing and being subjected to “horrific hazing” while at his duty station in the Mojave Desert.
“It’s not an easy decision, but the stakes are very high,” Bederow said of Jerome’s plea today.
“He could have faced state prison, and he’s a young man and it’s tough to roll the dice on somebody’s life,” the lawyer said.
“He so clearly had no criminal intent,” he said. “We certainly don’t think justice is served by labeling him a criminal for the rest of his life.”
Jerome may be able to keep his gun, his lawyer said. “I spoke to Indiana state police, and while there’s no guarantees that he could keep his gun, there’s reason for optimism,” he said.
New York has a blanket rule that residents of out of state cannot possess a weapon in New York, the lawyer said. “That’s an undue restraint on travel. I think it’s a ripe constitutional issue — but to fight that from a jail cell is not in Mr. Jerome’s best interest,” he said.