A Virginia circuit court has restored firearm rights to Stephen Rankin, a former police officer convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2015 for shooting an 18-year-old. Rankin completed a two-and-a-half-year prison term nearly a decade ago and first obtained restoration of his other civil rights from the governor, as state procedure requires before any petition to a local judge.

Lawyer Tim Anderson filed that petition in late July. Assistant prosecutor Mawiyah Mason signed support at a September 4 hearing, after which a substitute judge granted the request on Thursday. Deputy prosecutor Hallie Hogfeldt then asked the court to reopen and refuse the petition, citing public safety and asserting the office never received the papers despite service records; the office later admitted the signature was an error.