ATLANTIC CITY — A Wildwood Crest man has won an appeal overturning his conviction for unlawfully possessing a handgun that he used to shoot himself in the leg. Christopher DiAntonio, 22, is being held at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Chesterfield. According to state Department of Corrections records cited in the article, he is serving concurrent sentences for several crimes and was eligible for parole on Jan. 18, 2025. He had been sentenced in 2022 to three years in prison for cocaine possession, and while in jail he was charged with criminal mischief for allegedly tampering with his cell’s sprinkler system and flooding it. His longest sentence, five years for unlawful possession of a handgun, was vacated when an appellate panel overturned the conviction. According to court records, DiAntonio told police he shot himself in the lower leg at the Quality Inn in Atlantic City on Aug. 12, 2020, and then went to the hospital for treatment. While there, he was questioned by three Atlantic City police officers in three separate interviews. The records said he was never given a Miranda warning. The appellate judges ruled that the first two interviews were permissible because DiAntonio was not yet considered a suspect. He had told officers that two men in a BMW shot him, but investigators found problems with that account and conducted a third interview. During that later questioning, Sgt. Innocenzo Visceglia told DiAntonio that his story was false and that he was leaving things out, according to court records. The appellate panel said that exchange showed police viewed DiAntonio as a suspect and were trying to obtain a confession. At that point, the judges ruled, he should have been advised of his rights. The appellate decision does not necessarily end the case. The judges said the state still has substantial evidence it may use. Based on information from DiAntonio’s earlier statements, police obtained surveillance video that allegedly showed him entering and leaving a room while limping. Officers also found a shell casing and blood stains in a room at the Quality Inn, and the judges said that evidence would not be suppressed. The article said it was unclear whether the appellate ruling would affect DiAntonio’s parole date, and neither his attorney nor the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office responded to requests for comment.