Case ID: f-appx_93/html/0101-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES of America, Appellee, v. Aaron GONZALEZ, also known as Aaron Elizondo, also known as Aaron Martinez, Appellant.
    No. 03-3355.
    United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.
    Submitted: April 6, 2004.
    Decided: April 12, 2004.
    Lynnett M. Wagner, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Lincoln, NE, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
    Richard Jay Epstein, Weinberg & Weinberg, Omaha, NE, Aaron Gonzalez, Federal Correctional Institution, Littleton, CO, for Defendant-Appellant.
    Before BYE, MCMILLIAN, and RILEY, Circuit Judges.
   PER CURIAM.

Aaron Gonzalez (Gonzalez) appeals the sentence the district court imposed after he pled guilty to participating in a drug conspiracy, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846. Gonzalez argues that the two felony convictions upon which the court relied to classify him as a career offender did not qualify as convictions under U.S.S.G. § 4Bl.l(a), because the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services had issued certificates for both convictions that showed he had been “discharged” and “restored all [his] civil rights as provided by law.” In support of this argument, Gonzalez analogizes his case to United States v. Gallaher, 275 F.3d 784 (9th Cir.2001), where a divided panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that (1) if a state had restored the defendant’s civil rights with respect to a prior conviction by issuance of a certificate, and (2) the certificate did not expressly contain a restriction pertaining to firearms, the prior conviction may not be used as a predicate offense under the Armed Career Criminal Act, 18 U.S.C. § 924. Here, even if this court were to agree with Gonzalez that Gallagher applies, Gonzalez’s argument fails because both certificates on Gonzalez included the following disclaimer: “The issuance of this Certificate of Discharge does not restore to the above captioned individual his/her right to bear arms.” We conclude that a state certificate which merely reinstates a former prisoner’s civil rights does not prevent the conviction from being counted under section 4B1.1(a). See U.S.S.G. §§ 4B1.2 n. 3, 4A1.2 n. 10. Accordingly, we affirm. 
      
      . The Honorable Richard G. Kopf, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the District of Nebraska.
     
      
      . Gonzalez's reliance on United States v. Gallaher, 275 F.3d 784 (9th Cir.2001), is misplaced. In Gallaher, the defendant was convicted of being a felon in possession of ammunition. Moreover, the holding was based on the plain language of 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(20).