Attorney McCracken Poston said a 60-year-old Dade County teacher who was arrested after a gun was found in her classroom did not know the unloaded gun had been put in a box with art supplies.
Dr. C.T. Turner was arrested and taken to the jail in Trenton after she alerted school officials of the gun.
Attorney Poston said Dr. Turner had taken several boxes from her widowed mother's garage, thinking they were all school materials. He said someone in the family had apparently put her late father's gun in one of the boxes, along with some ammunition.
The attorney said, "Anyone in the school system over the last half century knows and reveres this family, and Dr. Turner is one of the best people I have ever known.
"This matter should have ended the moment the teacher realized that her late father's handgun had been tossed in the box by family members cleaning out her mother's house.
"This is a gross over-reaction and I hope it is immediately corrected. I would stake anything on the theory that this is an innocent, unintended possession."