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Lawyer charged with bringing gun to Pinellas courthouse pleads guilty

 
Lowy
Lowy
Published Dec. 10, 2016

Lawyer gets probation for taking gun to court

A lawyer charged with bringing a loaded gun to the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center pleaded guilty this week to felony charges and was sentenced to three years' probation. Clearwater attorney James Franklin Lowy, 49, arrived Sept. 15 at the courthouse at 14250 49th St. N for his Florida Bar hearing. Lowy put his backpack in the X-ray machine, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, when deputies noticed the outline of a gun inside. A search of the backpack revealed a fully loaded Ruger .45-caliber handgun with a round in the chamber and a loaded magazine, deputies said. Lowy did not have a concealed weapons permit, the Sheriff's Office said. He was arrested on a felony charge of carrying a concealed firearm. Later, Lowy was also charged with tampering with an electronic device after deputies said he let the battery of his GPS monitor die while he was out on bail. Lowy, 49, pleaded guilty to both charges on Monday. Last year, the Florida Bar filed an emergency petition to have Lowy suspended after an auditor found that he "appeared to be causing great public harm based on trust account shortages in excess of $60,000." The Bar is recommending disbarment.