The Sun's Peter Hermann on Sunday broke down why 19-year-old Michael Hunter received only a two year suspended sentence after being arrested with a loaded handgun in October. The answer: the weapon was missing a pin that holds the cylinder in place, making it inoperable and, in the eyes of the law, no longer a handgun. Instead, he was convicted of "firearm possession," and District Court Judge Yvonne Holt-Stone sentenced him to two years with one year and 10 months suspended - essentially time served. She said that's "basically" what prosecutors requested.
Of course, Hunter is now one of two men charged with fatally shooting 72-year-old Charles Bowman during a robbery at a carryout in Waverly.
Peter summed the case up this way: