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The Saratoga County District Attorney's office on Thursday dismissed NY SAFE Act charges against one of the first people to be charged under the controversial gun law.

William Greene was instead allowed to plead guilty to criminal possession of a weapon for selling a rifle to an undercover officer in April.

Greene, 51, was released under the condition that he surrender the firearm, an RGuns .223/5.56-caliber assault-style rifle with a pistol grip. The rifle, already in the possession of State Police, will be destroyed.

In April, Greene was charged under two SAFE Act violations — unlawful transfer of an assault weapon and disposing of a weapon without an NICS background check — after he sold the rifle to an undercover policeman. Greene had posted on Facebook that he was selling the firearm. After his arrest, Greene contended that he knew about the SAFE Act but didn't think he was breaking the law.

"I believe I haven't done anything wrong," Greene said after his May arraignment, which attracted a crowd of anti-SAFE Act protesters.

Passed by the state Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the law made several changes in the state's firearms laws, including placing limits on magazine capacity, requiring mandatory background checks for all gun buyers, and initiating the creation of a registry of assault weapons. The law was embraced by anti-gun activists but criticized by many gun owners.

In a news release Thursday, Saratoga County District Attorney James Murphy III said that he used "prosecutorial discretion" in dismissing the SAFE Act charges against Greene. The weapons possession charge to which Greene pleaded guilty carries the same sentencing range as the two SAFE Act violations.

Lyn Murphy, an assistant district attorney for Saratoga County, said prosecutors chose to drop the SAFE Act violations because there were "obvious elements" that proved Greene was guilty of criminal possession of a weapon. The specific rifle Greene tried to sell, Lyn Murphy said, has been illegal since the 1960s.

Murphy, however, did not go so far as to say that prosecutors believed Greene had not violated the SAFE Act.

In a statement, James Murphy said, "One thing I know about gun owners above all is that they are the people who typically follow the law. They do not support a person who possesses an illegal assault weapon recently manufactured with a flash suppressor; they as a group are law abiding."

Greene's arrest became a rallying point for SAFE Act opponents, who showed up at his court appearances with signs blasting Cuomo and the gun law, one of the strictest in the country.

Greene's lawyer, Gregory Canale, had said Thursday that had his client been prosecuted under the SAFE Act he would have challenged its constitutionality.

Canale also said he believes police waited until the SAFE Act was enacted to arrest Greene and use him as an example that the law was working. Greene could have faced felony weapons charges, Canale said.

Canale said Greene is "very satisfied" with the plea deal.

Greene works as a carpenter, making garage doors, Canale said. The attorney said his client is glad he's out of the spotlight.

"He's very happy his days as the poster child for the opposition to the SAFE Act are over," Canale said.

bfitzgerald@timesunion.com • 518-454-5414 • @BFitzgeraldTU