The Federal Guard's Gun

The Defendant was a corrections officer at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut — a federal prison employee, not a New York State officer. He was arrested in a Manhattan social club while carrying a loaded .38 caliber handgun without a New York State license. New York's criminal possession statute made it a felony to possess a loaded handgun without a license. However, New York also had a statutory exemption for "peace officers" (Penal Law § 265.20(a)(1)(a)). The Defendant believed in good faith that, as a corrections officer employed by a federal prison, he qualified as a "peace officer" under New York's definition in CPL § 2.10(25), and was therefore exempt from the handgun licensing requirement. This belief was mistaken: the statute's definition of "peace officer" did not include federal corrections officers. New York's Penal Law § 15.20(2)(a) provided a mistake of law Defence when a Defendant's conduct was based on a "mistaken belief that it does not, as a matter of law, constitute an offense, founded upon an official statement of the law contained in a statute or other enactment." The Defendant argued his conduct fell within this exception.