Even though a federal court upheld a prisoner’s life sentence for a RICO murder conviction, it still granted postconviction relief and vacated two illegal convictions for use of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, in light of some recent Supreme Court decisions. Delroy Lee was convicted by a jury of numerous federal…
A federal court has held that a person who is a felon still has the right to argue self-defense with a firearm, despite the fact that he is a convicted felon who cannot possess a firearm under federal law. The court’s decision overturned the lower court’s conclusion that a felon doesn’t have the right to…
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a man with a sagging sweatshirt acting suspiciously was not enough for “reasonable suspicion” to allow an arrest, agreeing that the evidence in the case should have been suppressed and vacated the conviction. He was thought to be a robbery suspect by a man…
Yet another federal firearm statute goes down under the Supreme Court’s recent Bruen decision. The question this time was whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3), which criminalizes possession of a firearm by a habitual drug user, violated the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms. The Fifth Circuit said it did. United States v. Daniels, No. 22-60596,…
United States v. Gamez, No. 22-2278, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 20713 (7th Cir. Aug. 9, 2023) Is Indiana Arson a Violent Felony for ACCA? Sergio Gamez received a 15-year sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. This sentence was a result of the district court’s application of the Armed Career Criminal Act’s…
