Legal Insurrection wins FOIA suit over David Gregory gun law non-prosecution
D.C. ordered to turn over police Affidavit which sought Gregory’s arrest.
For those of you who are new to the blog, or who have not been paying attention, Legal Insurrection filed a FOIA suit against the District of Columbia seeking records related to the non-prosecution of David Gregory and NBC News despite their clear violation of D.C.’s gun law by possessing a 30-round ammunition magazine.
We are represented by Judicial Watch, which has done a wonderful job. It’s a real credit to them that they work hard to dig out the truth not only on big issues like IRS targeting, but also smaller issues like how draconian D.C. gun laws are not enforced against the famous and connected D.C. elites.
In the Gregory case, NBC News was warned by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department that possession of the magazine was illegal, and that NBC News should use a photo not the real thing, but NBC News ignored the warning and used it on Meet the Press.
Legal Insurrection was one of the first to note the violation of law, and we pursued the story in a long series of posts.
Despite the clear violation of law, the D.C. Attorney General, Irvin Nathan, decided not to prosecute Gregory or any NBC News personnel.
That’s not how the average person is treated in D.C., where the technicalities of the gun laws are enforced with obsessive prosecutorial vigor.
And that’s the point. We never wanted David Gregory prosecuted for violating the ridiculous gun law provision, we wanted public officials to be held accountable for the unequal application of the law.
When a photo surfaced of Nathan at a charity event with Gregory’s high-powered lawyer wife, which Nathan said was his only contact with her, it came to symbolize the special treatment.
(Wife of David Gregory with D.C. Attorney General Irvin Nathan at charity event)
So we continued to press the issue.
D.C. refused to give us all the documents we requested, and even withheld initially documents it had provided to others. Among the missing documents was a Warrant and supporting Affidavit provided to the D.C. Attorney General by the Metropolitan Police.
It took a while in court, and David Gregory no longer is on Meet the Press, but we finally won a ruling that the police Affidavit must be produced.
Judicial Watch issued the following press release explaining the decision:
Court Orders Release of Affidavit in Support of Arrest of David Gregory to Judicial Watch, Legal Insurrection Blog
Lawsuit Sought Decision Documents on Gregory’s Gun Law Violation
DECEMBER 09, 2014
Lawsuit Sought Decision Documents on Gregory’s Gun Law Violation(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today announced a win in court that ordered the District of Columbia to make public the affidavit in support of arrest of NBC’s David Gregory in association with a gun law violation committed in December 2012 on Meet the Press. Gregory exhibited a high-capacity ammunition magazine during an interview with the National Rifle Association’s Wayne LaPierre concerning firearms policy in the United States
In January 2013, Legal Insurrection submitted a District of Columbia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) seeking access to the following records:
- The January 9, 2013 letter from Lee Levine on behalf of David Gregory, referenced in the letter dated January 11, 2013, from Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan to Mr. Levine which was publicly disclosed on that date.
- All communications between the District of Columbia Office of Attorney General and/or Metropolitan Police Department, on the one hand, and legal counsel for David Gregory and/or NBC News, on the other hand, with regard to the incident involving the display on television by Mr. Gregory of an alleged high-capacity ammunition clip (the “Gregory incident”).
- All documents in the possession of the MPD and OAG regarding the Gregory incident, to the extent not exempted from disclosure under applicable law, including but not limited to witness statements, evidence review and possession records, interview notes, and forensic testing.
On January 11, 2013, D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan sent a letter to NBC saying that his office would not prosecute Gregory, “despite the clarity of the violation of this important law.” The Attorney General added, “There is no doubt of the gravity of the illegal conduct in this matter. . . .”
In May 2013, Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia seeking access to records concerning the decision by the District of Columbia not to prosecute Gregory (Jacobson v. District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General, et al. (No. 13-0003283)).
“Making the arrest record public will help shed light on what the District of Columbia police thought of Gregory’s violation of law,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.” As it stands, we still do not know why the Attorney General refused to prosecute Gregory. That fact remains a mystery.
“Judicial Watch is pleased to announce a partial victory for Legal Insurrection and Professor Jacobson in this important matter of equal justice under the law.”
Legal Insurrection v Dist Columbia – FOIA Order
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Comments
We never wanted David Gregory prosecuted …
(I do.) Good work, Prof. Bill.
I do, too. Why would LI not want fair, even application of the law to include prosecution of Gregory ? To me, that shows a disrespect for law generally not to follow through properly . This is how it should go, in the absence of DC backing off application of the law entirely .
Congratulations on the fine job, Professor and JW!
Well done, Professor.
I’d like to see Gregory prosecuted, unsuccessfully, just to wipe that smarmy, sanctimonious attitude from his frontal lobes. Let the libtard privileged little Lord Fauntleroy learn what we, the unwashed masses, are forced to put up with. Just give Gregory a little taste of what passes for normal enforcement of ridiculous laws is like for Joe Sixpack.
Well done! Carry on.
Agree. Well Done!
a standard and a high power clip.
man the foolishness there….
(Note To Self: Do not fuck with this guy.)
Not bad for just a blogger….
You’ve got that clinical aspect down pat as well.
Mazel Tov!
Congratulations.
Our FOIA and Open Meetings laws at both state and federal levels would function much better IF a) there were some cost to defying the law on the part of public employees, and b) the Courts took a more serious and expedited approach to adjudicating disputes on these laws, which are generally very clear.
Better and more honest public employees would help as well, but I’m trying to be realistic.
“There is no doubt of the gravity of the illegal conduct in this matter. . . .”
The Attorney General must have been speaking ironically, because it isn’t a grave offense at all if there are no consequences to it.
Considering the number of travelers they were prosecuting and destroying; I’d like to have seen Gregory prosecuted too.
Good job on keeping your fire under this back burner. Another typical case of “Not who you are”, but “Who you know”. If it were otherwise, Al Sharpton would be prosecuted for Tax Evasion and his source of funding revoked.
Good job, Professor! Though, I’m with the folks who would like Gregory prosecuted. Equal justice under law, and all that.
(As a side note: That’s a pretty chummy photo of Mrs. Gregory and the DC AG for a one-time contact. Goodness, his tie is askew. What has been going on?)
How about a Congressional oversight hearing?
[…] of high capacity ammo mags, a class D felony. So how did Gregory skate? Judicial Watch (via legalinsurrection.com) has been on the case with various Freedom of Information Act requests. Turns out the D.C. police […]
Fair is Fair, if serving and ex-GI’s spent days in jail over this nonsense, David Gregory and his Producer should also.
So, Yes, David Gregory should have been prosecuted to the same extent as others under this ridiculous law.
On the suit: Well Done!
Congratulations, Professor!
Thanks for all the work you do.
And put me in the camp of “prosecute Gregory, et al.”
So, I guess what their saying is, Wayne LaPierre would’ve also been given the same amount of leniency……..LOLSHIHM (So Hard I’ve Hurt Myself)
Magazine in your face, Do not arrest