By Yuanqi Ivy Zhou
SACRAMENTO – At the end of the day, defendant Nitendra Lal didn’t bother to fight firearms charges against him here this week—he knew he wasn’t supposed to possess firearms, he did, he got caught and pleaded guilty in Sacramento County Superior Court.
As a result, Lal’s checkered past led to a sentence of 361 days in county jail and five years of probation. The jail time can be extended up to 30 years upon further violation during probation. During his time in and out of custody, he is subject to participating in a Work Project Program.
Lal was convicted for possession of a firearm previously, and was prohibited from possessing firearms since the conviction. But, on June 13 Alameda police officers found that a revolver was in the possession of Lal. As a result of his disregard for the court’s restriction, Lal was charged in violation of California Penal Code section 29800, a California state law that prohibits the violation of firearm restrictions.
Sacramento Superior Court Commissioner Ken Brody took Lal’s guilty plea under the supervision of Deputy District Attorney Kitty Tetrault and Assistant Public Defender Susannah Martin.
Judge Brody charged the firearm to be confiscated and destroyed. Furthermore, Lal is still not allowed to possess any firearm and is subject to search and seizure by police officers with or without a warrant.
During the sentence, Public Defender Martin requested that the court waive all unnecessary fees for Lal because he is currently unemployed and seeking employment. Both District Attorney Tetrault and Commissioner Brody agreed to this request—the court struck all discretionary fees including monthly probation costs and charged the defendant only for the mandatory minimum fee.
To sign up for our new newsletter – Everyday Injustice – https://tinyurl.com/yyultcf9
