Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

Unlawful Carrying of Weapon

In September of 1999 I was pulled over and arrested for DUI and UCW in Coryell County, Texas. The only reason the weapon was in my car was that I was at the shooting range in the morning and had forgotten about it being there all day. It (the weapon) was in a case in the trunk and the ammo was in the glove compartment. I assumed this was lawful. Having to deal with the DUI at the same time, I paid more attention to that. I have the court documents and I guess what happened was that I pled guilty to the UCW but no sentence or punishment was imposed for the UCW except for the fact I had to forfeit the weapon.

Now that I am in the process of filling out employment applications again, I am trying to better understand what exactly a UCW is and what are the weapon laws I violated so that I can explain what happened and, hopefully, minimize the damage it may have on me as a potential employee.

Thanks for any help, advice..--name removed--


Asked on 4/05/03, 6:26 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Basil Hoyl Law office of Basil Hoyl

Re: Unlawful Carrying of Weapon

Normally, the carrying of a gun in a trunk is not illegal. However, carrying a gun into a prison yard would be a problem. If you had a lawyer at the time, that lawyer should never have allowed you to plead guilty to carring a weapon (not on prison grounds) if it were kept in a trunk and out of your reach. If you did not have a lawyer, but pled guilty, you can try to file a post conviction writ of habeas corpus, but there is a great liklihood that the writ will be denied. It would also be expensive. However, the facts will determine the result.

http://www.reasonable-doubt.com

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Answered on 4/09/03, 1:56 pm


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