California Assemblyman Put on Probation

SAN BERNARDINO (CN) - Assemblyman Tim Donnelly was placed on two years probation and fined $2,215 Monday after pleading no contest to two misdemeanors for carrying a loaded .45 in his bag as he waited to board a flight to Sacramento.

The Republican from Twin Peaks, north of San Bernardino, was charged with illegal possession of a loaded firearm and possession of a prohibited item in a sterile area after airport screeners found his loaded gun on Jan. 4.

He could have been sentenced to a year in jail for the first charge and 6 months for the other, prosecutors said. His gun will be destroyed.

Donnelly has said he was not trying to sneak the gun onto the aircraft. It was found in his bag, which he placed on the scanning machine.

Donnelly claimed he had to carry a gun because he received death threats after spearheading a referendum campaign to overturn the Dream Act, a state law that allowed undocumented immigrants to receive state-funded college aid.

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