Bombing victim's court bid: Sell guns

Destroying them a ‘waste,’ he says

A West Memphis doctor who was severely injured in a 2009 grenade explosion orchestrated by Dr. Randeep Mann, who is now serving a life sentence, on Thursday stepped up his efforts to prevent the government from

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destroying more than 100 guns seized from Mann.

"The majority of these firearms are collectors' items and part of a collection that has an estimated value in excess of $1 million," Dr. Trent Pierce said in a motion asking Chief U.S. District Judge Brian Miller to issue an order allowing the seized weapons to be inspected, appraised and sold.

On March 17, a Crittenden County Circuit Court jury awarded Pierce and his wife, Melissa, $122.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages as a result of a lawsuit the Pierces filed against Mann in 2010.

Pierce was the chairman of the state Medical Board in February 2009. As he prepared to leave his home one morning to attend a board meeting addressing allegations against Mann, he moved a spare tire resting against his vehicle, causing a grenade that had been attached to the tire to explode. The blast knocked out two of Pierce's teeth, and left him with broken bones and severe burns. It also destroyed his sight in his left eye, as well as his hearing in his left ear and his sense of smell.

Robert Cearley, a Little Rock attorney who represented the Pierces in the civil trial, responded in August to a forfeiture complaint filed by the U.S. attorney's office in July that sought permission to destroy the guns that federal agents seized from Mann during the criminal investigation. Cearley asked that the guns be sold instead of destroyed, with the proceeds going toward restitution that Mann still owes Pierce as part of Mann's criminal convictions. Now, with the civil jury award, Mann owes Pierce even more money.

"Forfeiture or destruction of these firearms would be a senseless economic waste and have a dramatic adverse economic impact" on Pierce, Cearley wrote in his latest attempt to keep the government from destroying the weapons it calls "contraband."

The seized guns include 14 machine guns that are regulated by the National Firearms Act, one destructive device, two pistols and an additional 93 weapons.

Cearley argued that "destruction of the firearms at issue here would deprive [Pierce] of any meaningful opportunity to receive payment of a substantial portion of the civil judgment he has been awarded."

He also said that although the government has labeled the weapons "contraband," it cannot prove they were connected to a crime.

He criticized the government's arguments that the weapons should be destroyed, because Mann can't legally possess them, they can't be sold for his use and benefit, and the machine guns cannot be legally possessed by anyone.

"These arguments offend any sense of justice and due process and find no support in the law," Cearley wrote. "Ownership of the seized property is unaffected by ... Mann's conviction and all seized items may be sold without his actually or constructively possessing them."

Mann's wife, Sangeeta, has also objected to the destruction of the weapons, saying she has a "marital interest" in her husband's property and is entitled to half of whatever they sell for.

Sangeeta Mann served a year in prison and paid a $50,000 fine for interfering with the investigation of her husband.

Metro on 05/01/2015

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