Lawyer wants gun charge tossed

Ex-cab driver pleads guilty to weapons charge

Michelle Tuccitto, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — A former cab driver from Seymour who fatally shot his passenger after the man slashed his throat during a robbery pleaded guilty Monday to a weapons charge.

While the prosecution acknowledged that the cab driver, John Lutters, acted in self-defense, Lutters didn’t have a permit to carry the gun.

Lutters, 46, avoided having to serve any prison time, according to the terms of the plea bargain agreement. He will be on conditional discharge for two years, under the sentence imposed Monday by Superior Court Judge David Gold.

Lutters could face up to two years in prison if he violates any laws during the time he is on conditional discharge.

The charge of carrying a pistol without a permit is a felony, which could have meant up to five years imprisonment.

Attorney Robert Berke, who represents Lutters, said his client is happy the case is finally resolved, but is disappointed with having to plead guilty, as it means he’ll have a criminal record.

Prosecutor Jack Doyle said this resolution means Lutters is a convicted felon, so he can’t carry a weapon or get a permit to carry one in the future.

"I think it is an appropriate disposition," Doyle said. "What this case stands for is that you need to have a permit to carry a weapon when you are in the public sphere. The law is to protect the public from individuals carrying weapons without the proper training or without permits to carry them."

The shooting happened about 11 p.m. June 15, 2001, when Lutters was driving a cab in New Haven for Metro Taxi Co. Inc.

Lutters told investigators that he shot his assailant, Travis Hazelwood, in self-defense, after Hazelwood put scissors to his neck and tried to rob him. Lutters, who suffered a neck wound, drove away from the scene and disconnected his two-way radio. He later learned police were looking for him and spoke to police around 4:30 a.m. June 16.

Prosecutors called the killing justified, but continued to pursue the weapon charge against Lutters.

In 2002, Superior Court Judge Lubbie Harper Jr. dismissed the count of carrying a pistol without a permit. Harper ruled that Lutters didn’t need a permit to carry a weapon in his cab because state statute provides exemptions for people’s homes and businesses.

Prosecutors appealed Harper’s ruling to the state Supreme Court, claiming it set a bad precedent, allowing anyone, from street vendors to traveling salespersons to limousine drivers, to carry weapons in vehicles without first obtaining permits.

The Supreme Court in 2004 overturned Harper’s decision to dismiss the weapon charge.

"We can think of no good reason why not to require taxicab drivers to obtain a handgun permit — and the mandatory training on handgun use and safety — before allowing them to carry such deadly weapons while traversing the public highways of the state," the Supreme Court decision said.

The Supreme Court ruled that a "place of business" refers to a particular, fixed location, and a motor vehicle isn’t considered the premises in which a business is located.

Lutters now works for an auto repair service, according to Berke.

"He is no longer a cab driver — it was far too dangerous of a job," Berke said.

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14054452&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=8

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The state's highest court ruled Friday that a cab driver had no right to carry the pistol he used to shoot a robber because his taxi is not a place of business.

The state Supreme Court, in a split decision, said that a cab is not a fixed location. It pointed to other exemptions where a person, such as a parole officer or a federal marshal, could carry a pistol in his car without a permit because it involves public safety.

In the court's opinion, Justice Richard N. Palmer wrote that taxicab drivers should be required to obtain a handgun permit. "We can think of no good reason why not to require taxicab drivers to obtain a handgun permit - and the mandatory training on handgun use and safety - before allowing them to carry such deadly weapons while traversing the public highways of this state," Palmer wrote.

The ruling sends the case back to Superior Court for further consideration. Cab driver John Lutters fatally shot 38-year-old Travis Hazelwood in New Haven on June 15, 2001. Police said Hazelwood tried to rob the cabbie with a pair of scissors.

Police and prosecutors determined the shooting was justified, but charged Lutters with carrying a pistol without a permit, a felony that carries up to five years in prison and fines of up to $5,000. New Haven Superior Court Judge Lubbie Harper, Jr., dropped gun charge two years ago, citing a state law that exempts businesses from the state's gun-permit requirements.

Prosecutors appealed the ruling, saying the decision would set a bad precedent that might allow anyone from ice cream vendors to traveling salesman to carry weapons in their vehicles without permits. State's Attorney Michael Dearington said he agreed with the Supreme Court's decision. "If (the court) found that it was a place of business, it opens the door to all other possibilities.

Hot dog stands to other vendors on the street could claim the right to carry a weapon also, which would seem to be patently unreasonable," he said. Lutters' attorney, Robert M. Berke, did not return a call seeking comment.

Cabbie's criminal charges dropped
William Kaempffer, Register Staff, June 07, 2002

NEW HAVEN - A Superior Court judge Thursday dismissed criminal charges against a cab driver who shot and killed his fare last year during a robbery attempt.

Granting a motion by the defense, Judge Lubbie Harper Jr. threw out one count of carrying a pistol without a permit against former Metro Taxi driver John Lutters, 43, of Seymour.

Harper also agreed to allow the state's attorney's office to appeal his precedent-setting ruling last month that sank the prosecution's case.

"I'm overjoyed with the decision," Lutters said after the brief court hearing. But at the same time, he said, "it's bittersweet for me."

Last month, Harper ruled that Lutters, and many other cab drivers, don't need a state gun permit to carry a weapon in their cab because the state statute provides exemptions for people's homes and businesses. Despite arguments from the prosecution to the contrary, Harper ruled that a cab qualifies as a "place of business."

After the May 22 hearing, the judge gave the state's attorney's office two weeks to review evidence and determine if they could still proceed with the case.

During the brief court hearing Wednesday, Assistant State's Attorney John P. Doyle told Harper that, in light of the judge's decision, the state had "insufficient evidence or cause" to proceed.

Doyle, who maintained that taxis shouldn't be exempt, said the state would appeal the judge's taxi cab ruling.

"It's a public safety concern," Doyle said. "You say this is a place of business. Where's the line drawn?"

Doyle had argued that the ruling could open a Pandora's box where operators of the local ice cream truck and traveling salesmen can pack firearms without permits.

"It's a pretty serious issue," Doyle said.

The Chief State's Attorney's office will handle the appeal to Appellate Court or the Supreme Court.

Given the importance of the case, defense attorney Robert M. Berke said he anticipated the case going straight to the high court.

But be also said Harper's thorough decision would make it "very difficult for the reviewing court to skirt the issue."

If it goes directly to the Supreme Court, a decision could come within 18 months.

Despite the courtroom victory, even Lutters shared the prosecution's concerns about the long-term implications of the ruling.

In his 36 months as a cabbie, he said he saw plenty of co-workers who he believed would be ill-suited and ill-equipped to carry a gun, and feared that the ruling might open the door to tragedy.

"There's a reason for what the state does" with gun laws, Lutters said

Lutters shot and killed Travis Hazelwood, 38, June 15, 2001 after Hazelwood placed a blade to his neck and tried to rob him. Afterward, Lutters pulled the wounded man out of the cab, drove off and disconnected his two-way radio. He suffered a slash wound to his neck.

Lutters turned himself in to police several hours later.

Authorities charged him with carrying a pistol without a permit. State prosecutors called the killing justified.

Harper's May 22 ruling did not grant permission to all cabbies to arm themselves. The statute indicates that a person must have a "proprietary interest" in the business to be exempt from the gun law. Lutters leased the cab from Metro, giving him proprietary interest.

State Rep. Michael Lawlor, D-East Haven, chairman of the state's House Judiciary Committee, agreed with Harper's conclusions and didn't see a need to clarify the gun statute.

"I don't really think there's a problem that needs to be solved," said Lawlor, who considers himself a gun control advocate. The "common sense interpretation" is that a cab driver's place of business is his taxi, so that means no permit is required.

"I guess people can disagree, but it seems pretty clear to me that it does," he said.

Despite ruling, gun charge stands
William Kaempffer, Register Staff May 23, 2002

NEW HAVEN — A Superior Court judge ruled Wednesday that owner-operator taxi drivers are permitted to carry guns in the cab without obtaining a state pistol permit.

But Judge Lubbie Harper Jr. also refused to dismiss a weapons charge against a local cabbie who shot and killed his fare during a June 2001 robbery attempt.

"I just really wanted to know where I stand and now I know where I stand," said John Lutters, 43, a former Metro Taxi driver who shot a would-be robber who put a blade to his throat.

Authorities called the killing justified and police charged him with carrying a pistol without a permit last year.

Robert M. Berke, Lutters' attorney, had filed a motion to dismiss the charge, arguing that Lutters didn't need a permit because the state law provides exemptions for people's homes and businesses.

The question before Harper was whether a cab qualifies as a place of business.

Harper reviewed gun laws in other states as well as the legislative history of gun laws in Connecticut.

What he noted was that the local gun laws were designed to limit the number of weapons traveling in the "public sphere," but not limit the rights of property owners to protect their property.

"Though taxi cabs are mobile, that fact alone does not necessarily make them fall within the public sphere," he stated. "Therefore, as long as a cab driver can show that he has a proprietary or controlling interest in the taxi cab, the court sees no reason to treat cab drivers differently from other business owners."

Lutters leased the cab with an option to buy it, giving him at least some level of ownership interest, Harper said.

The judge denied the motion to dismiss the pistol permit charge, noting prosecutors hadn't had the opportunity to present evidence that Lutters carried the gun outside the cab at any point the day of the killing.

Berke and Assistant State's Attorney John Doyle both agreed that Lutters had placed the gun in a pack around his waist at the beginning of his shift at 1 p.m. on June 15. The shooting happened at 11 p.m. and police arrested him at 4:32 a.m. the following morning.

"Was the weapon ever outside the vehicle? No." Lutters said afterward.

Harper scheduled another hearing for June 6 for the state to present evidence. Berke said he expected the judge would dismiss the charge if the state cannot prove Lutters ever exited the car with the gun.

Lutters pulled out the gun and shot Travis Hazelwood, 38, after Hazelwood placed a pair of scissors against the driver's neck and started to cut him.

After the shooting, Lutters pulled Hazelwood out of the cab and left him on the side of the road. He drove off and disconnected his two-way radio, authorities said. Five hours later, he contacted his dispatcher center, which informed him police were looking for him.

Lawyer wants gun charge tossed
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3623652&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=7576

William Kaempffer, Register Staff

March 22, 2002

John Lutters, 43, is charged with carrying a pistol without a permit in the slaying of Travis Hazelwood, 38, in Fair Haven. State prosecutors ruled he acted in self-defense and did not charge him with murder.

Wednesday, his attorney, Robert M. Berke, asked Judge Lubbie Harper Jr. to throw out the lone weapon charge, arguing it doesn't apply in the June 15, 2001, shooting.

The judge made no immediate ruling.

After the hearing adjourned, Lutters, who is free on bail, spoke publicly for the first time about the ordeal.

He recounted how Hazelwood has the blade "in my neck" when he fired the fatal shot. He said he had to make the choice of kill or be killed a day before his son's first birthday.

"I decided to come home to see my son turn one year old," he said.

He also defended the need to carry a gun while he was driving his cab into what was characterized as some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city. In the last year, he noted, two cabbies have been killed in Connecticut in apparent robberies.

"When I'm out around home, I don't carry a gun around," said Lutters, a Seymour resident. "But I'll tell you one thing. I don't get into my cab without it."

During the hearing, the attorneys didn't debate whether Lutters had a license to carry the weapon used in the killing. He didn't.

But Berke argued that pistol permit statute itself gave him legal authority to carry the gun in the taxi.

State law in Connecticut requires anyone possessing a firearm to have a state-issued permit, which requires a background check and certification from a licensed firearms instructor.

But the law makes two exceptions, where people don't need permits to have guns in their homes or a business in which they have "proprietary interest."

"One can argue reasonably and persuasively that the cab is a place of business," Harper noted during the court hearing.

Therefore, Berke claimed, Lutters was exempt from needing the pistol permit since he leased the cab, giving him proprietary interest, and did business out of it.

Assistant State's Attorney Jack Doyle, meanwhile, argued that the exception should only apply to fixed storefronts, not a cab that travels throughout the city. In response, Harper noted that statute was "clear and unambiguous" and that the cab seems to fit the criteria.

To be certain, however, neither prosecution nor defense had any strong precedent to bandy. There is no previous court ruling to help interpret the law and no legislators in court to explain the intent of the 80-year-old law.

During his argument, Doyle noted that there is a second state statute that makes it illegal to carry a handgun in a car without a permit. The state didn't charge Lutters with that.

Doyle cautioned of a "slippery slope that this court would be going down" if it granted motion to dismiss.

"If we make an exception in this case, then we open the door." What about a pizza delivery guy, the Avon lady or Fuller Brush man, he asked.

"What do we do about an ice cream truck driver?" Doyle said.

Berke, however, countered that most of those cases are different. A delivery van isn't a place of business, he said, it's merely a means to deliver merchandise from the storefront. A taxi driver, in contrast, conducts business in the cab, he argued.

Harper said he would issue a written decision and recessed the hearing until May 15, calling the question "complicated to say the least."

In 2001, Lutters was working for Metro Taxi when Hazelwood allegedly pressed a pair of scissors into his neck in a robbery. Hazelwood began cutting Lutters' throat when Lutters grabbed his gun and shot Hazelwood. Lutters pushed Hazelwood from the vehicle and drove off, calling police several hours later.