2013 Natick Shooting Conviction Upheld By MA Supreme Court

NATICK, MA — A conviction that stemmed from a 2013 shooting in Natick was upheld by the Supreme Judicial Court in a ruling last week. Michael Kelly was trying to sell a handgun to his friend at an Evergreen Road home when the gun went off, wounding the friend in the hand, according to court records.

Kelly was eventually convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a building. He appealed the discharge conviction, arguing that the shooting was an accident, and so he had no criminal intent — called "mens rea."

But, the judges found that the state law on discharging a gun near a building was meant to protect public welfare. Therefore, the judges said, acting irresponsibly violates the law, even if there was no criminal intent. Typically, mens rea has to be shown in cases where the punishment is very serious — in Massachusetts, the discharge law only provides a $100 fine or three months in jail (or both).

The judges also said that Kelly wasn't cautious while handling the gun, according to the ruling.

The shooting happened on Jan. 20, 2013, when Kelly, a Maine resident, was at his father's Natick home. The victim had a license to possess in a gun in Massachusetts, and was interested in purchasing Kelly's father's Springfield XD .40 caliber handgun. Kelly did not have a license to possess a gun because you don't need one in Maine.

Kelly told the court that the Springfield XD .40 requires the user to depress the trigger to disassemble the gun. When Kelly went to do that, he squeezed off a single shot.

"When the victim handed it back, the defendant became aware that it 'wasn't fed properly,' but he nonetheless depressed the trigger in order to disassemble the weapon. There were many precautions that the defendant could have taken to avoid the subsequent accidental discharge," the opinion reads.

The judges did not find that Kelly's Second Amendment rights were violated by the conviction.