LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – State and local prosecutors will appeal a Louisville judge's ruling last week that a convicted felon can't be prosecuted on a firearms charge because it violates his Second Amendment rights.
Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Melissa Logan Bellows ruled March 13 that it is unconstitutional for prosecutors to move forward with their case against Jecory Lamont Frazier under a state law prohibiting felons from owning a gun because it doesn't outweigh the Second Amendment right that belongs to "all Americans."
On Friday, Attorney General Russell Coleman and Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney Gerina Whethers announced in a press release they would ask the state Court of Appeals to review the ruling.
"Violent crime and deadly drugs are Louisville's most urgent challenges," Coleman said in the press release. "We are appealing this order because it defies good common sense and would give even the most violent felon a broad right to possess deadly weapons. The most ardent supporters of the Second Amendment – me included – recognize the constitutionality of laws prohibiting the possession of firearms by felons like the defendant here."
Logan Bellows ruled that it is unconstitutional for prosecutors to move forward with their case against Jecory Lamont Frazier under a state law prohibiting felons from owning a gun because it doesn’t outweigh the Second Amendment right that belongs to "all Americans."
On Tuesday, Bellows indicated she may change her order after talking with the state Court of Appeals but as of yet has not issued a new ruling.
"I've made a lot of people mad and I've made a lot of people happy," Bellows said Tuesday of her March 13 ruling. "But that's the job of the judge."
Frazier was back in court that day, as he still has a tampering with physical evidence charge pending in the case.
At that hearing, the judge told the Jefferson Commonwealth's Attorney's office and defense attorney Rob Eggert that there will be a "supplemental order" on the gun possession charge issued soon.
The prosecution asked whether the order would change her ruling or just add additional information, as the office was considering an appeal.
Bellows responded that she would "have to discuss that with her staff attorney" but that the court was "seeking clarification" from the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
"It's where it's going," she said, referring to the case likely being appealed.
Bellows noted that her ruling currently only affects the Frazier case.
In fact, another defendant was sentenced by Bellows to probation on Tuesday after being convicted on the charge of possession of a gun by a felon.
Bellows has not issued an updated order as of Friday afternoon.
The prosecution has argued before Bellows that the U.S. justice system has consistently disarmed people "who it deems to be unvirtuous, such as felons" and that the Kentucky Supreme Court has supported this argument.
But Bellows, who was elected in 2022, cited a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that there is a "strong presumption that the Second Amendment right is exercised individually and belongs to all Americans."
"Therefore, the Court is reluctant to accept that the limits on the right protected by the Second Amendment are defined by a person's virtue or good character," Bellows ruled.
Bellows also ruled the prosecutors did not present evidence of a historical tradition of disarming felons after the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791.
Prosecutors, she said, failed to prove that state law "is consistent with this Nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation."
Frazier was arrested on Nov. 6, 2021, after Louisville Metro Police were called to the 3900 block of Taylor Boulevard, after a driver hit a pole.
Police claim Frazier attempted to hide something in his vehicle when police arrived and then pulled out a handgun and handed it to a co-defendant "to conceal from officers that he is a felon in possession of a handgun," according to the arrest citation.
His previous convictions include drug trafficking, fraud, tampering which physical evidence and being a felon in possession of a handgun.
In the statement Friday, state and local prosecutors argued the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that nothing has changed the “longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons.”
"I come from a military family, and that, combined with my respect for the rule of law, why I too am a continued supporter of the Second Amendment for law-abiding citizens," Whethers said in the statement. "However, making it easier for those who have been previously convicted of felonies to access firearms puts the safety of our community at risk."
In October, Frazier’s attorney, Rob Eggert, asked to dismiss the gun charge and cited a 2019 case in front of Judge Amy Coney Barrett, who is now a Supreme Court Justice, where she ruled that "founding-era legislators did not strip felons of the right to bear arms simply because of their status as felons."
Eggert wrote that other appeals courts across the nation, including in Mississippi, are ruling that laws prohibiting felons from owning firearms are unconstitutional.
And he pointed out that in 2006, Kentucky Supreme Court Justice Will T. Scott wrote in a dissenting opinion that, historically, Kentucky did not prohibit anyone from owning a firearm, including convicted felons.
Previous Content:
- Convicted felons have Second Amendment right to own guns, Louisville judge rules
- Louisville judge getting 2nd opinion on ruling that convicted felons have right to own guns
- Ky. Attorney General: Ruling allowing convicted felons right to own guns 'defies ... common sense'
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