Georgia Man Sentenced to One Year in House of Corrections

Clint A. Cornelius, 33, of Atlanta, Georgia, pleaded guilty in Hampshire Superior Court , on Monday, Aug. 15, to possessing ammunition without a permit and was sentenced to one year in the Hampshire County Jail and House of Corrections.

Cornelius averted a trial by pleading guilty before Hampshire Superior Court Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty III to one of 10 charges brought against him after Cornelius brought a cache of weapons and ammunition onto the Mount Holyoke College campus in March, 2007.

Assistant Northwestern District Attorney Matthew Thomas said he would drop nine other charges against Cornelius when he begins his jail sentence on Aug. 29. The additional charges include three counts of carrying a firearm without a permit and six counts of possessing  large-capacity feeding device. Each of the additional charges carries a minimum mandatory 2½-year state prison sentence.

Thomas described the unusual circumstances of the case to the Court, noting that although possessing firearms isn’t inherently wrong, not heeding the laws of the jurisdiction in which the arms are present amounts to a crime.

Cornelius has been free on $5,000 bail since his arrest in  2007.

Based on a tip from a student, Mount Holyoke College Public Safety officers  searched Cornelius’s car, in March, 2007,  finding a loaded 12-gauge shotgun with a pistol grip, extended magazine tube and a laser sight; a .308-caliber assault rifle with a bipod stand, flash suppressor and pistol grip; a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol with two high-capacity magazines; 76 shotgun rounds and 1,494 rounds of rifle ammunition.

The case reached the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court  before which Cornelius’s appellate attorney argued that Mount Holyoke public safety officials conducted an illegal search  and that Cornelius had 60 days, at the time, to obtain a firearms permit as he was new to Massachusetts. The SJC rejected both arguments as did the Massachusetts Appeals Court.