| On November 26, 2003, 17-year-old James Jernigan was arrested in Chicago, Illinois and charged with aggravated unlawful use of a firearm.
On January 14, 2004, Jernigan pled guilty to the charge in Cook County Circuit Court. He was sentenced to two years in prison.
In September 2013, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in People v. Aguilar that the portion of the statute under which Jernigan had been convicted was unconstitutional. The statute said that a person committed the offense of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon when a person “carries on or about his person or in any vehicle or concealed on or about his person except when on his land or in his abode or fixed place of business any pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser or other firearm and the firearm is uncased, loaded and immediately accessible.”
The court held that this portion of the statute violated the right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.
In 2021, Jernigan, represented by attorney Saani Mohammed, filed a motion to vacate the conviction based on the Aguilar ruling. On February 5, 2021, the motion to vacate the gun conviction was granted and the charge was dismissed. On September 14, 2021, Presiding Cook County Circuit Court Judge Erica Reddick granted Jernigan a certificate of innocence, clearing the way for him to seek compensation from the Illinois Court of Claims.
– Maurice Possley
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