Attorney Who Brought Loaded Handgun To Ocean Courthouse Censured

TRENTON, NJ — An attorney from Toms River has been censured by the New Jersey Supreme Court for bringing a loaded handgun into the Ocean County Courthouse in 2018.

Charles Canning Daley Jr., whose law practice is in Mercer County, pleaded guilty in June 2019 to unlawful possession of a handgun, according to documents from the state Supreme Court proceedings.

Daley had arrived at the Ocean County Courthouse in Toms River on Sept. 17, 2018, with the handgun in his backpack, court documents say, and it was discovered by security personnel as it went through the metal detector. The .22-caliber handgun was not registered in New Jersey and was loaded with hollow-point bullets.

Daley, who was at the courthouse on behalf of a client, told the security personnel he had put the handgun in his backpack to show it to someone but forgot it was in the bag, the documents say. During his guilty plea, Daley said he had bought the handgun in 1982 when he was working in the district attorney's office in Philadelphia, and was at that time permitted to carry a firearm. He was admitted to the pretrial intervention program in connection with the guilty plea, the documents say.

During the disciplinary proceedings leading up to the state court's censure, Daley said he took the handgun from a locked safe because he planned to go to a shooting range with a friend but when his plans changed, he forgot to return the firearm to the safe. He said he forgot the firearm was still in the backpack when he used it to bring his files to the courthouse, the documents say.

The disciplinary committee, which initially recommended a suspension, noted that Daley called the Office of Attorney Ethics two days after the arrest and had no ethics violations in 35 years of law practice.

The censure order, issued May 18 by New Jersey Supreme Court Chief Justice Stuart Rabner, was a lesser penalty than the six-month suspension the disciplinary review board sought. Court documents noted that while Daley's action in bringing the gun to the courthouse violated the law, he did not make any threats or endanger anyone.

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