I like this NJ governor!

[retdetsgt]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Commutes Sentence of Man Sent to Jail for Owning Guns Legally

A man given seven years in prison after being found with two guns he purchased legally in Colorado has had his sentence commuted, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Monday.

The case of Brian Aitken, 27, had become a cause célèbre among gun-rights advocates. On Jan. 2, 2009, Aitken, an entrepreneur and media consultant with no prior criminal record, muttered to his mother that life wasn't worth living after a planned visit with son was abruptly canceled at the last minute. Aitken then left his mother's home in Mount Laurel as she called police, who later found two locked and unloaded handguns in the trunk of his car.

Aitken had purchased the guns legally in Colorado, and he passed an FBI background check when he bought them, according to his father, Larry Aitken. Brian also contacted New Jersey State Police before moving back back to the Garden State to discuss how to properly transport his weapons. But despite those good-faith efforts, Larry Aitken said, Brian was convicted on weapons charges and sent to prison in August.

Judge James Morley would not allow the argument in trial earlier this year and Christie later declined to reappoint the judge due to an unrelated case.

According to an order for commutation of sentence released by Christie on Monday, Aitken was to be released from custody as soon as administratively possible. The order is subject to revocation at any time.
Prior to Monday's announcement, Larry Aitken, who could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday, said he would not stop advocating for his son's release.

"I don't think there are words yet invented that could characterize the -- I guess anger would be one word, but it's a lot deeper than anger," he told FoxNews.com this month. "Whatever the word is that's a combination of anger, shock, disbelief, horror and a desire to expose all of this -- that's the word.

"This can't happen. I won't let this happen to my son."
Brian's relatives and his lawyer, Evan Nappen, believe he had a legal exemption to have the handguns in his car because they say he was in the process of moving from his parents' home in Mount Laurel to Hoboken when the guns were found.

Nappen claimed the moving exemption issue was raised both during the trial and in a pretrial motion to have the entire case dismissed, but he said the jury was never given the exemption statute because Morley refused to provide it to them.

In an e-mail to FoxNews.com this month, Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the Burlington County prosecutor's office, said "no evidence" was presented during the trial to support Aitken's claim that he was moving at the time of his arrest. And despite an appearance on FoxNews.com's "Strategy Room" in August 2009 to discuss his case, Aitken did not testify at his trial.

"However, his roommate testified that they had been sharing the Hoboken apartment since June 2008, and that he had seen the guns at the apartment in September 2008," Bewley wrote. "[Aitken's] mother testified that he had been living in Hoboken and working in New York City since June 2008. This incident occurred in January 2009."

Regarding Aitken's interview on the case, Bewley wrote: "While we fully recognize the defendant has a right not to testify, it is difficult to understand why he would grant an interview on national television, yet choose not to explain his actions to a jury when his liberty was at stake."
Nappen, meanwhile, said Aitken's case "absolutely" shows how states' differing gun laws can put well-intentioned gun owners at risk.

"There's a wide patchwork of gun laws between various jurisdictions and, in some states, it can differ from a local town that passes an ordinance to another town," Nappen told FoxNews.com this month. "That's why it's so Draconian in its application and how you end up with a Brian Aitken situation."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Commutes Sentence of Man Sent to Jail for Owning Guns Legally - FoxNews.com

[Trip]

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Commutes Sentence of Man Sent to Jail for Owning Guns Legally

A man given seven years in prison after being found with two guns he purchased legally in Colorado has had his sentence commuted, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Monday.

The case of Brian Aitken, 27, had become a cause célèbre among gun-rights advocates. On Jan. 2, 2009, Aitken, an entrepreneur and media consultant with no prior criminal record, muttered to his mother that life wasn't worth living after a planned visit with son was abruptly canceled at the last minute. Aitken then left his mother's home in Mount Laurel as she called police, who later found two locked and unloaded handguns in the trunk of his car.

Aitken had purchased the guns legally in Colorado, and he passed an FBI background check when he bought them, according to his father, Larry Aitken. Brian also contacted New Jersey State Police before moving back back to the Garden State to discuss how to properly transport his weapons. But despite those good-faith efforts, Larry Aitken said, Brian was convicted on weapons charges and sent to prison in August.

Judge James Morley would not allow the argument in trial earlier this year and Christie later declined to reappoint the judge due to an unrelated case.

According to an order for commutation of sentence released by Christie on Monday, Aitken was to be released from custody as soon as administratively possible. The order is subject to revocation at any time.
Prior to Monday's announcement, Larry Aitken, who could not be immediately reached for comment on Tuesday, said he would not stop advocating for his son's release.

"I don't think there are words yet invented that could characterize the -- I guess anger would be one word, but it's a lot deeper than anger," he told FoxNews.com this month. "Whatever the word is that's a combination of anger, shock, disbelief, horror and a desire to expose all of this -- that's the word.

"This can't happen. I won't let this happen to my son."
Brian's relatives and his lawyer, Evan Nappen, believe he had a legal exemption to have the handguns in his car because they say he was in the process of moving from his parents' home in Mount Laurel to Hoboken when the guns were found.

Nappen claimed the moving exemption issue was raised both during the trial and in a pretrial motion to have the entire case dismissed, but he said the jury was never given the exemption statute because Morley refused to provide it to them.

In an e-mail to FoxNews.com this month, Joel Bewley, a spokesman for the Burlington County prosecutor's office, said "no evidence" was presented during the trial to support Aitken's claim that he was moving at the time of his arrest. And despite an appearance on FoxNews.com's "Strategy Room" in August 2009 to discuss his case, Aitken did not testify at his trial.

"However, his roommate testified that they had been sharing the Hoboken apartment since June 2008, and that he had seen the guns at the apartment in September 2008," Bewley wrote. "[Aitken's] mother testified that he had been living in Hoboken and working in New York City since June 2008. This incident occurred in January 2009."

Regarding Aitken's interview on the case, Bewley wrote: "While we fully recognize the defendant has a right not to testify, it is difficult to understand why he would grant an interview on national television, yet choose not to explain his actions to a jury when his liberty was at stake."
Nappen, meanwhile, said Aitken's case "absolutely" shows how states' differing gun laws can put well-intentioned gun owners at risk.
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"There's a wide patchwork of gun laws between various jurisdictions and, in some states, it can differ from a local town that passes an ordinance to another town," Nappen told FoxNews.com this month. "That's why it's so Draconian in its application and how you end up with a Brian Aitken situation."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Commutes Sentence of Man Sent to Jail for Owning Guns Legally - FoxNews.com

Gov. Christie is quite the phenomenon. The thing I love about him more than in any politiican is how he revels in telling the press or telling constitutents things that piss them off politically. He's been the guy that's been taking on the holy grails in his state - pensions, tenure given to educators, cutting and slicing even kids' lunch programs. And anyone that has the courage to take on holy grails regardless of what it does for his future prospects is a hero in my book. You should watch how he does interviews with the press - he's got the "in your face" straightfowardness of the prosecutor he used to be, combined somehow with a charm that disarms you because of his command of language. I don't know what his qualifications would be as a president but damn would I love to see someone as straightshooting AND knowledgeable about how government works as he is in the White House. I watched him take complete control of the interview on Meet the Press one Sunday and I was falling in the floor with laughter.

[wisco]

Dangit RDS, I was just gonna post this in the other thread!!!

[Joeyd6]

If he runs for a second term he has my vote again!

[MikeG]

I liked him when he told the feds to stick the Big Dig 2 "free money" when the feds wanted guarantees that NJ would pick up the overruns. It's great to see someone with common sense. He treats money like it's his own and from this, it appears he treats people like his neighbors.

[Joeyd6]

A little note, he refused the Governor mansion. He lives in the same house he did when he was a US Attorney. He also cut his security detail down from the old administration considerably. He has also been seen at Staples buying hsi own pens, with his own money for work, as he likes a certain kind and he told the cashier who was questioning him "The state provides pens. I like different ones so I buy my own, its not your job as a taxpayer to buy me the pens I prefer." By the way, there were no cameras, no media, etc...

[danninator]

I liked him until he started blaming the pension problems on the police and firefighters.... but that's for another thread.