RED FLAG VICTIM'S GUNS RETURNED 11 MO. LATER! ALFRED CONTI STILL BEING SUED BY HIS DOCTOR!
by Black Wire Media Wed. Aug. 19, 2020 www.cnjfo.com/join-us
Middletown, NJ's Alfred Conti was finally able to pick up his firearms, magazines, ammunition and NJ Firearms Purchaser ID card on Monday from Rumson Police HQ after a nearly 11 month ordeal that started with leaving his doctor a bad review on social media and getting viciously RED FLAGGED because of it. Conti was forced to oblige the famously "feel-good" yet-to-be-found unconstitutional law at 1:00am in his pajamas after his surgeon "shopped" for a judge willing to inflict NJ's Red Flag Law by signing the order.
In a decision handed down May 20, 2020 and reported by Black Wire Media's Theresa Inacker, the alleged "threat" upon which the original judge signed the confiscation order was found by judge Paul X. Escandon to be null and void, that the state did not even meet a preponderance of the evidence standard, which is merely more than 50%. The judge also found that while Mr. Conti may have used expletives, no threat was made. The judge also found that no threat of bodily harm was made, and there was no evidence to support that Mr. Conti is mentally ill, or a threat to himself or anyone else. Escandon ordered that Mr. Conti's firearms be returned to him forthwith. For as yet to be determined reasons, "forthwith" took almost THREE MONTHS!
Inaker's article of May 30th can be found on the Black Wire Blog (CNJFO's online "newspaper morgue") HERE: https://www.cnjfo.com/news/9008439
The Coalition of New Jersey Firearm Owners have written about and followed this fiasco since its inception, and have interviewed Conti multiple times (he has us on speed-dial!). An Italian kid that grew up in NYC with all of the baggage, stereotypes, sayings, rough edges and swearing that one could imagine. He tells his story as if he's part of the HBO series "The Soprano's". Conti drops F-Bombs like the Strategic Air Command, mercilessly carpet-bombing his conversations about his adventure with the NJ Court system. We can't blame him. Underneath all that self-admitted abrasiveness is a heart of gold that still donates a small portion of his fixed disability income to various charities.
Now that his firearms are back in his care, custody and control, Conti looks to an unsure future while still facing a defamation suit from his surgeon, and remains thousands in debt just fighting the Red Flag.
Conti has set-up a GoFundMe account to help with his legal bills here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/20rs0ehno0?utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_na+share-sheet&rcid=77b00c77ef9d4f008fc9ebf3de89a836&fbclid=IwAR0b5Q_68ILBJRoLTEUifd1wlR-VgV4ILEq_ImkfZkMENN3FXcpqatns2B4
Conti's criminal defense lawyer, Jason Seidman, left this on our Facebook page on May 20th this year:
"Al is a good man and this was quite a battle with testimony, speed bumps and surprises over several days. It's not over yet as the State has said they will consider an appeal. If they do, this will take months more. I hope that is not the case. For all saying the doctor and lawyer should pay his fees, they way this was crafted, is that they made the complaint to the police and the Rumson Police Department decided to file. That's why he likely wont get reimbursed for the fees related to the firearm case. They (the doctor & doctor's lawyer--Ed.) continue to be insulated for their actions while they cost Al. He is still dealing with the civil suit and could surely use some help paying for his civil lawyer." ---Jason Seidman, Conti's defense attorney
Conti is seeking a new civil attorney as his former one somehow was allowed to recuse himself after accepting thousands to represent him. Finding an attorney that wants or is willing to sue another attorney and his (former) doctor seems to be an uphill battle for the embattled Conti.
EDITOR's NOTE:
Perhaps a word of advice is in order: Don't ever write a bad review if you're dealing with a vindictive doctor of means with an axe to grind and a repeated history of suing his patients! Our Communications Director Theresa Inacker was instrumental in this very involved story. Red Flag laws turn her stomach and give her migraines.
An attorney herself, she is a former editor of the Seton Hall Constitutional Law Journal and has been admitted to the SCOTUS Bar, a requirement to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court. She speaks to groups (especially women's shooting groups) about Red Flags and a host of related 2A topics, as a representative of the Coalition, by scheduled appointment.
