Poker convictions flushed for Derry lawyer

Hunting wasn’t in the cards for Derry Township attorney Larry Burns.

So Burns went to court to ask that he once again be allowed to participate in the hobby he enjoyed for decades before he was convicted in 2009 of gambling offenses. He was operating what authorities said were illegal poker tournaments in Westmoreland County.

Those convictions resulted in Burns’ inability to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm and prevented him from possessing a rifle for sport, he said.

“It took away my gun permits, and I used to be a hunter,” Burns said Thursday following a court hearing in which he asked a county judge to expunge a criminal record reflecting convictions to 12 misdemeanor gambling counts. “It’d like to have a gun permit again.”

Burns, who turns 80 in October, was the subject of a fiercely contested three-day trial more than a decade ago in which he unsuccessfully argued to a jury that poker is a game of skill and therefore not illegal under Pennsylvania’s existing gambling laws in 2007.

Pennsylvania legalized slot machine gambling at casinos in 2004 and permitted table games, such as poker, to be played starting in 2010, a year after Burns’ trial.

He was found guilty of organizing and promoting Texas Hold’em tournaments and collecting a portion of the winnings that were paid out to players.

“I’m sure I was targeted. I never did believe what I did was illegal,” Burns said.

Burns served a year on probation and was barred from participating or organizing poker tournaments during his court supervision. He was sanctioned by the Disciplinary Board of the state Supreme Court but retained his law license and continues to practice.

His case was closed in 2011.

Assistant District Attorney Steven Reddy opposed Burns’ request for an expungement.

“As a matter of course these convictions should stand,” Reddy said.

Under state law, Burns was permitted to seek an expungement of his criminal record because more than 10 years have expired since he completed his sentence, is older than 70, was convicted of misdemeanor offenses and has not been convicted of additional crimes.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Feliciani said Burns met all the criteria for an expungement and wiped clean his criminal record. It’s a ruling Burns said that reshuffles the deck and allows him to once again own a gun and hunt.

And gamble.

Burns said he still plays poker.

“I just go to the casinos now. I did enjoy running the games. It was a profitable thing for me,” Burns said.