Christie issues 26 Orders of Clemency

file photo

Governor Chris Christie issued 26 clemency orders; 25 pardons and one commutation of sentence, on Friday.  Christie leaves office on Tuesday.

Eleven of the pardons were of individuals convicted on weapons possession charges and eleven were for drug possession charges.  One pardon was for a driving while intoxicated.   The commutation of sentence for was for the 1993 homicide conviction of an Ocean County woman. Read the rest of this entry »

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Christie Commutes Brian Aitken’s Sentence To Time Served

By Art Gallagher

This afternoon at 4:30 Governor Chris Christie signed a commutation order of Brian Aitken’s prison sentence of seven years for illegal possesion of firearms to time served effective today.  The Governor order that Aitken be released from prison as soon as administratively possible.

According to numerous news reports, Aitken had purchased his firearms legally while a resident of Colorado and was transporting them pursuant to instructions he had received from the New Jersey State Police while moving back to his native New Jersey when he was arrested in January of 2009.  The judge presiding over Aitken’s trial did not allow the jury to consider the exemption to New Jersey’s firearm carry law for transporting weapons between residences.

Christie’s commutation order can be viewed here.

There is a statement of the Free Brian Aitken facebook page that reads as follows:

It’s official—Governor Christie has commuted Brian’s sentence and he will be home before Christmas!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU everybody. If it wasn’t for your letters, phone calls and support this never would have happened. What a joyous Christmas this will be. Thank again from the bottom of our hearts. Brian Aitken has been freed!

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Christie Considering A Pardon Of Brian Aitken

By Art Gallagher

Most of the mainstream news reported from Governor Chris Christie’s press conference yesterday has to do with the progress being made on the “tool kit” of municipal government reforms that will enable local officials to reduce the cost of government and live within the 2% property tax increase cap that the State government passed last summer.

Thanks to the Star Ledger’s Paul Mulshine for reporting that Christie also acknowledged that he is considering a pardon of Brian Aitken, the young New Jersey man serving seven years in prison for transporting guns he purchased legally and in a method that he had been instructed to transport them by the New Jersey State Police.

The news reports of of Aitken’s plight make a compelling case that a gross injustice has been committed.   As a media skeptic and critic, I wonder what facts are missing from the stories.   If the stories are reasonably accurate there is no question that Aitken should be released, his record cleared and he should go on to live the productive life he was apparently leading prior to his arrest.

I trust Christie to review Aitken’s case quickly and to make a just determination.

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Brian Aitken serving seven years for transporting guns, perhaps legally

Brian Aitkin, photo from Free Brian Aitkin facebook page

By Art Gallagher

Brain Aitken was sentenced to seven years in prison for transporting unloaded and disassembled guns in the trunk of his car. The arresting officer suggested that Aitken store the guns in his father’s safe, but they wouldn’t fit, so he was arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to seven years in state prison.

According to the reports brought to my attention by MMM readers, here, here and here, Aitken had purchased the firearms legally while residing in Colorado. He had sought and followed guidance from the New Jersey State Police on how to legally transport the guns during his move back to New Jersey.

Aitken turned down pleas bargain offers from the Burlington County prosecutors office because he believed he had carefully followed the law. 

The judge presiding over Aitken’s case, James Morely, declined to instruct the jury about exemptions to the concealed carry law for transporting guns during a move between residences.  Aitken’s attorney raised the issue during closing arguments but not during the evidentiary phase of the trail.  The jury requested the exemption information multiple times during deliberations.  Morely declined to provide the information.

Morely did not issue Aitken’s sentence.  He was removed from the bench after the verdict was delivered and before the sentencing because Governor Chris Christie declined to reappoint him, reportedly because of his judgement in a case involving a Moorestown NJ police officer having sex with cows.  Judge Michael J. Haas issued Aitken’s sentence.

Evan Nappen of Eatontown is Aitken’s attorney. Nappen’s summary of the facts of the case can be found here.

Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll has written Governor Christie asking for an immediate pardon or commutation of Aitken’s sentence.  Carroll’s letter can be found here.

Reports are that Governor Christie is reviewing the pardon/commutation request.  The media campaign that Aitken’s family is waging is so compelling that the questions, “how could this happen?” and “what facts are missing from this story?” must be addressed.   Christie’s office should conduct a thorough and expeditious review.

For more information, see the Free Brain Aitken facebook page and BrianDAitken.com.

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