Philly mom will stand trial for bringing gun to N.J. :: 08/06/2014

MAYS LANDING, N.J. - The words common sense were mentioned quite a bit during Shaneen Allen's hearing yesterday in Atlantic County Superior Court.

Allen, 27, cried for a moment in the hallway with her son Naiare and his father after a judge denied her motion to dismiss weapons charges filed against her in October and refused to overturn a prosecutor's decision to deny her entry into a first-time-offender diversion program.

So Allen walked back into court, turned down a plea deal that would have given her a 3 1/2-year sentence and decided to go to trial in October, hoping a jury would use some common sense and not send a working mother of two to prison for not knowing New Jersey's gun laws.

"There is no public need to prosecute Shaneen Allen. I'm sure the public is just begging for Shaneen Allen to go to jail," her attorney, Evan Nappen, argued sarcastically to Judge Michael Donio.

Allen, who has no criminal record, was pulled over by New Jersey State Police on Oct. 1 while driving to Atlantic City with the father of her sons. She told the officer that she had a license-to-carry permit in Pennsylvania and had her .380 Bersa Thunder in her pocketbook.

New Jersey does not recognize any other state's license-to-carry permit, and Allen was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon and possession of hollow-point bullets. She faces a mandatory minimum of 3 1/2 years in prison.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20140806_Philly_mom_will_stand_trial_for_bringing_gun_to_N_J_.html