By Richard A. Ginkowski Y our client is arrested for domestic violence battery and disorderly conduct. A deal is cut with the prosecutor to drop the domestic violence battery charge if the defendant pleads guilty to the disorderly conduct charge, pays a fine, and attends batterers' counseling. You think you got a great deal for your client, and he's happy to have stayed out of jail. This scenario is played out every day across the country. Attorneys who may not have seen the inside of a federal courtroom since they were admitted to the bar must understand the potential collateral consequences of even a simple misdemeanor disorderly conduct conviction in order to represent their clients properly.
Exceptions are few.
The primary source of this information is the applicable code. There is no exception for members of the military or law enforcement officers. In fact, in Gillespie v. City of Indianapolis, the termination of a veteran Indiana-polis police officer, fired after a 1995 domestic violence battery charge because he could no longer legally possess a firearm, was recently upheld. The U.S. Supreme Court has yet to consider a case under the new law. The few exceptions to the firearms possession prohibition include convicted defendants who were not represented by an attorney, did not knowingly and intelligently waive the right to counsel, or did not knowingly and intelligently waive the right to a jury trial in jurisdictions where the defendant was so entitled by law.