WOODBURY — A weapons possession conviction that led to a 10-year prison sentence was upheld Dec. 23 by a state appeals court.
The court, in a 19-page decision, rejected an argument that the arresting Woodbury police officer did not have a valid reason to arrested Anthony T. Young, 29, of Woolwich, and seize a loaded .32-caliber handgun from him after Young and another man allegedly jaywalked on South Broad Street on Dec. 2, 2011. Young had no permit to carry the weapon.
The judges found no legal precedent for arrest and seizure when a pedestrian violates the state Motor Vehicle Code, but said Young’s defiance of an officer’s order to stop after the jaywalking “constituted obstruction of the administration of justice” and that the attempt to flee “resulting in a lawful arrest and the seizure of a handgun did not violate (Young’s) constitutional rights.”