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Steffon Losey-Davis, 24, sits in front of the papers he's submitted to the office of the governor seeking a pardon for his sentence of one year of probation. Losey-Davis pleaded guilty to the second-degree charge to avoid prison, but says he's a legal gun owner who made 'a simple mistake' by leaving his 9mm Smith and Wesson in his glove compartment one day in September 2013.

(Submitted photo)

Steffon Josey-Davis legally owned a gun.

But one day, two years ago, that gun completely changed his life -- without a pull of the trigger.

Josey-Davis owned a 9mm Smith and Wesson handgun and was working as an armored-car driver with hopes of being a cop, he said. Now he's a convicted felon and, in some ways, a poster boy for gun-rights advocates.

He can't vote, is disqualified from most jobs, and his career goals are derailed indefinitely.

What crime was Josey-Davis guilty of?

Having his legally owned gun in the glove compartment of his car.

The mistake

Josey-Davis was preparing for a normal workday on Sept. 20, 2013, after which he planned to go to a Pennsylvania gun range with coworkers.

He was checking his gun in the family garage when his younger sister came into the room. He quickly stuffed it in the glove compartment so she wouldn't see the gun, which he said he always kept out of sight and locked away, he said.

After work, however, he opted against going to the range - and instead went to meet his fiance to celebrate their anniversary.

On the way home to North Brunswick, he was pulled over by Highland Park police for having an expired registration. He was asked for his license and proof of insurance.

"I reached for the glove compartment - that's when I realized," Josey-Davis said.

He told the two officers about the gun, and they eventually brought their superior out to the scene of the stop. Though the gun was confiscated, Josey-Davis was only given a summons for having an expired registration that night. He drove home.

That was a Friday night. He was told he could pick up his handgun on Monday. When he showed up at the Highland Park Police Department that day, he didn't get his gun - instead he was put in handcuffs and charged with a second-degree crime.

"It's like I'm living in a dream," said Josey-Davis, 24. "My whole life was about doing the right thing. Now I'm a convicted felon. A simple mistake can just ruin your life."

Fearing as much as 10 years in state prison, Josey-Davis took a deal for a year of probation from the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office last month. He pleaded guilty to second-degree unlawful possession of a weapon, and in turn the prosecutor waived the provisions of the Graves Act, the state's strict gun possession law. He is serving a year of probation as part of that plea deal.

Now he's making a direct appeal to Gov. Chris Christie for a pardon in paperwork filed last week. The pardon is the only way to wipe his record clean and get his life back on track, experts said.

A spokesman for Christie did not respond to requests for comment on the petition.

Andrew Carey, the Middlesex County Prosecutor, would not comment on the plea deal, according to Jim O'Neill, a spokesman. They also would not comment on why pre-trial intervention was rejected in Josey-Davis's case, he added. A spokesman for the state Attorney General's office also declined comment.

The Graves Act

Josey-Davis dodged a bullet with his plea deal in one respect. Much-tougher penalties would have been mandatory under the Graves Act, the state law that places mandatory minimums on gun crimes, and which was made stricter still by the Legislature in January 2008, in the wake of the Newark schoolyard slayings in August 2007, experts said.

Legal experts said the North Brunswick man's case is emblematic of how gun laws intended to punish criminals instead can ensnare law-abiding citizens.

"He's a good kid. The judge sentenced him as low as she could," said Thomas Buck, Josey-Davis's attorney. "You just can't take a chance with possible prison time."

Top New Jersey gun-rights lawyer Evan Nappen said Josey-Davis did well to avoid prison in the first place.

"It's wonderful they waived the Graves Act, and gave him probation," said Nappen. "But they still made him into a felon. He's a young guy - and his future has been destroyed by the State of New Jersey."

Another case, a similar plea

Nappen was the attorney for a Philadelphia woman whose case became a cause-celebre last year. Shaneen Allen, a mother of two, was carrying a handgun in her purse that was legal in all ways in her home state of Pennsylvania. But when she was pulled over by a New Jersey state trooper in Atlantic County, she informed him about her gun, as she was required to do by law in her state. Allen was granted pre-trial intervention in September 2014, after the New Jersey Attorney General's Office issued a memorandum creating a specific loophole for her case and others exactly like it - an estimated 100 other such prosecutions at the time, authorities said.

That memorandum does not apply to Josey-Davis, since he is a New Jersey resident.

Another case, that of Brian Aitken, is foremost on Josey-Davis's mind. Aitken was sentenced to seven years in state prison for driving with three unloaded handguns in the trunk of his car which were legal in Colorado. But after serving four months, Aitken was released in 2010 when Christie commuted his sentence.

Josey-Davis said he hopes for a similar reprieve from the governor. He still hopes to start a career in law enforcement. North Brunswick police confirmed that he had been on their candidate's list, until he withdrew due to the pending criminal charge. Josey-Davis said he hopes, through the governor, to wipe his record clean again.

"I got scared and I took the probation," he said. "What criminal do you know would tell an officer, 'I have a gun on me?'" Josey-Davis said.

Seth Augenstein can be reached at saugenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SethAugenstein. Find NJ.com on Facebook.