A Florida woman who recently gave her husband’s guns to local authorities for safekeeping after saying she feared for her life spent a longer time in jail for armed burglary than her husband did following a domestic violence arrest, according to multiple reports. The Miami Herald reports that 32-year-old Courtney Irby was arrested on charges of armed burglary and theft after she went to her estranged husband’s home to retrieve two of his firearms, only to later hand them over to police.

According to an arrest affidavit seen by the paper, Irby told police that she decided to take the guns from her husband’s house and turn them in because he would not. The incident reportedly comes after the arrest of Irby’s husband, Joseph Irby, last week. According to HuffPost, Irby’s husband was arrested last Saturday following a court hearing involving the two, who are reportedly in the midst of a divorce.

The publication reports that Irby’s husband rammed his car into the back of his wife’s vehicle after the hearing, citing police documents. Police said Irby called local authorities shortly after the incident “uncontrollably crying and advised that she was in fear for her life.” Police reportedly arrested Irby’s husband on charges of aggravated battery after the incident. According to HuffPost, Irby had previously received protective orders against her husband.

Irby’s husband was reportedly released from police custody a day after his arrest. He was later reportedly ordered by a judge turn over the firearms in his possession as a condition of his pretrial release. That’s when Irby reportedly went to her husband’s home to retrieve his firearms and hand them over to police because she said “he wasn’t going to turn them in.” But once Irby arrived at the local Lakeland Police Department, she was arrested for the act after police said she admitted to burglary and theft.

As a result, Irby reportedly spent six days in police custody before she was released on bond. Lawrence Shearer, an attorney representing Irby, dismissed his client's charges in a statement to HuffPost. “Theft is to deprive someone of the right or benefit of property,” he said. “She didn’t do either one of those. She was taking them to the police department for safekeeping.”

“I have faith in our state attorney’s office that they will do the right thing," he added.

Bang wrote: Sun Jun 23, 2019 12:56 pm I saw this story elsewhere. I see and understand both halves of it. It's screwed up at every facet, but she did commit a crime, and a pretty serious one.

The arrest of a Florida woman who turned in her estranged husband's guns to police after he was held on domestic violence charges has provoked uproar. A Florida state congresswoman has asked prosecutors to drop the case against Courtney Irby, who was jailed for six days on theft charges. Democratic lawmaker Anna Eskamani said charging Mrs Irby, 32, would set "a scary precedent" for victims of abuse.

Prosecutors say they have not yet decided whether to pursue the case. On Monday, Ms Eskamani shared the letter she sent to State Attorney Brian Haas on Twitter, saying: "Ms Irby was seeking help from the Lakeland Police Department and taking action to protect herself and her children. "We should be outraged by her arrest and I am requesting that your office not prosecute her." Assistant state attorney Jacob Orr told the Orlando Sentinel on Monday that the office is "reviewing the allegations and all of the evidence collected by law enforcement".

Mrs Irby and her 35-year-old husband, Joseph Irby, who have two children, are in the middle of divorce proceedings after separating in December. A lawyer for Mr Irby told Fox 13 that Mrs Irby had no right to enter his client's apartment. He described his client as a hard-working and calm family man. On 14 June, following a divorce court meeting, Mr Irby was arrested for domestic aggravated battery after he allegedly ran his wife's vehicle off the road and hit her car with his own, the Lakeland Ledger reported.

Mrs Irby told officers she feared for her life during the incident and had requested restraining orders on Mr Irby in the past. She was subsequently granted another temporary restraining order. The next day, Mrs Irby went to her husband's apartment, gathered up the firearms and brought them to the Lakeland Police Department. When asked by an officer if she entered the apartment without her husband's permission, she said she had. The officer asked her to confirm that she had "committed an armed burglary". "Yes, but he wasn't going to turn them in so I am doing it," she replied, according to the officer. When police told Mr Irby his wife had turned in his guns, he asked to press charges.

Her lawyer has said her actions were not theft as she turned the guns in to law enforcement and did not take them for herself. A judge released Mr Irby on 15 June on $10,000 (£7,850) bail with the order not to use, possess or carry any weapons or ammunition. As Ms Eskamani pointed out in her letter that federal law may ban those with domestic violence convictions or restraining orders from possessing guns. But at the state level there are loopholes that can prevent local law enforcement from enforcing those weapons restrictions.

Florida is one of 35 states that do not prohibit those convicted of minor domestic violence crimes or anyone subject to restraining orders from buying or using guns, Ms Eskamani said. Both Mr and Mrs Irby are due in court again in July.

A fundraiser for her legal and living expenses already surpassed $6,400 on Monday afternoon.

highdesert wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 9:18 pm
Florida is one of 35 states that do not prohibit those convicted of minor domestic violence crimes or anyone subject to restraining orders from buying or using guns, Ms Eskamani said. Both Mr and Mrs Irby are due in court again in July.[/url]

max129 wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 10:36 pm ... The accusations came out of nowhere. We got divorced because we wanted different things out of life, not because either of us was trying to be the enemy of the other person, but enemies we did become. ...

max129 wrote: Mon Jun 24, 2019 10:36 pm
There is a huge difference between using a key to take something you should not and "breaking and entering". In most States all property of a marriage is common property until the divorce is final. So for her to break into his place and get guns? Were they stored in a safe? Did she have the combination?

Stiff said:

Actually there are only 9 community property states,

max129 wrote: Tue Jun 25, 2019 5:14 pm It's not important, but I wonder HOW people pretend to keep track of "yours, mine and ours" in non community property states??? I was divorced in one of the non-community property states, but our lawyers said we WERE in one. In any event, we just split it all up 50/50 and that was perfectly fine with me.

But I am honestly trying to comprehend how most married couples could clearly denote that which is in one of the three ownership conditions.

And, because divorce does cause "temporary insanity", how they get it straight when everyone is screaming bloody murder at each other.

I mean, it's not like people keep receipts and "proof" of who bought what for 10 years (at least no one I know does so).

BACK to this particular case: (the woman who high-jacked her ex's guns)
It now occurs to me that she did all this without consulting an attorney (I presume). That was a bone headed move. I was in the middle of forming a new company when I was getting divorced.

My attorney gave me step by step instructions on what to do when - and I followed those instructions.

I guess that as this kind of crazy news is released I wish they would either tell the whole story or not bother. And then when the story goes viral, they should do the extra homework to complete the info.