To the editor:

Last week, Scott Fuller wrote, “firearms crimes are dismissed at high rates with perpetrators quickly back onto the streets.” Nothing could be further from the truth.

I’m a criminal defense lawyer practicing in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Anecdotally, it is very rare to see a firearms charge dismissed at all. Those cases are hard fought by both sides and the prosecution is typically looking for a jail sentence for anyone charged with a felony firearms crime.

When cases are dismissed, they are done so for specific reasons. In 2021, the Attorney General Peter Neronha produced a “Gun Crimes Report” which you can find at riag.ri.gov/press-releases/2021- gun-crimes-report.

When it comes to dismissal of gun charges, Neronha says: “[M]ost, if not all, dismissals occur for one or more of the following reasons:

1. the defendant has pleaded guilty to a charge more serious than a firearms charge (e.g., murder, first degree robbery) and received a more serious sentence in consideration of dismissal of the firearms charge;

2. a superseding indictment or information has been filed by this office bringing additional charges against a defendant, which requires dismissal of the original case;

3. the victim is unwilling or unavailable to testify, and their testimony is necessary to meet our burden of proof; or

4. the Court suppresses evidence necessary to meet our burden of proof.”

Scott Fuller didn’t bother to provide a source or statistic supporting his claim. Scott Fuller is dead wrong. I can’t support any candidate who can’t, or won’t, get his facts straight on such an important issue.

Brett Beaubien

Warren