Charles Foehner is headed to prison in just a few weeks for the “violent crime” of possessing several firearms without a New York City permit. The 67-year-old used one of those unlicensed guns to defend himself while he was working as a doorman two years ago, when a violent attacker with a lengthy rap sheet assaulted him. Though police ruled that Foehner was justified in using lethal force to protect himself, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz went after Foehner for illegal possession of multiple firearms.
Facing up to 25 years in prison, Foehner ended up taking a plea deal, but will likely face at least four years behind bars for the crime of exercising his Second Amendment rights without first obtaining permission from the NYPD. Now his attorney is urging the public demand that New York Gov. Kathy Hochul grant clemency to the armed citizen.
Unless Gov. Hochul acts quickly and grants clemency, Foehner’s next four Thanksgivings and Christmases will be spent behind bars, effectively as a political prisoner of a capricious anarcho-tyranny that prizes criminals over citizens.
To any sane person, Foehner is a hero.
Exercising his constitutional right to bear arms, an issue with which the state has noticeably struggled, he employed them in what even Katz appears to admit was a legal act of self-defense.
As a senior citizen with no prior criminal record, Foehner has never posed any risk to society and poses no risk to it now.
In fact, the opposite is true — society proved to be a risk to him, and he stands to suffer years in prison at an advanced age as its victim.
As Foehner’s attorney Thomas Kenniff, who successfully defended subway hero Daniel Penny in Manhattan last year, said after the plea-bargain hearing, his client deserves a plaque, not a prison sentence.
“For too long our political leaders have coddled violent criminals at the expense of innocent New Yorkers,” Kenniff wrote me. “We have witnessed self-defense put on trial, Good Samaritans mercilessly prosecuted for protecting others, and the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding New Yorkers, like Charlie Foehner, continually trampled.”
… “As we head into a pivotal election year,” Kenniff continued, “I encourage common sense New Yorkers of all political persuasions to call upon Governor Hochul to exercise her clemency power to spare Mr. Foehner from the brutality of an utterly unnecessary state prison sentence.
Hochul has granted clemency to individuals convicted of much more serious crimes, but given her anti-gun zealotry I’m skeptical that she’ll act to keep Foehner out of prison.
In all, Hochul has granted clemency to more than 100 individuals in her time in office, including a baker’s dozen back in August. Individuals convicted of arson, attempted robbery, and even manslaughter were all granted relief by Hochul, with the governor declaring that all of them have lived “crime-free lives for a significant period of time.”
Hochul might point to Foehner’s more recent guilty plea as a reason to deny clemency, but if she doesn’t lift a finger to help him I doubt she’s going to comment at all on her decision. And while Kenniff argues that granting clemency to Foehner would improve Hochul’s standing among the electorate, it would also create a huge backlash among gun control activists. Four years ago Hochul had the backing of anti-gun groups like Everytown, and that support will be crucial for Hochul as she tries to fend off a challenge to her candidacy from New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado. another Everytown-endorsed “gunsense” politician.
Granting clemency to Charles Foenher probably would be a broadly popular position in New York, but I don’t think it’s all that likely. In addition to the political considerations, Hochul has made gun control a primary focus during her time in office, and I don’t think she has much of a problem with Foehner going to prison for possessing unlicensed firearms. I sincerely hope the governor proves me wrong at some point before Foehner reports to court for his formal sentencing on January 14, but I’m not holding my breath or counting on her to do the right thing.
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