Opinion ID: 168642
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Consideration of a Pardoned Offense in Calculating Criminal History.

Text: 63 In calculating a defendant's criminal history category, the Guidelines provide that [s]entences for expunged convictions are not counted. U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(j). Mr. Hall received a pardon for his 1984 conviction for felony armed robbery from the State of Louisiana. He therefore contends that this conviction, and his later conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm, should not be counted in calculating his criminal history. 64 Application Note 10 to § 4A1.2(j) provides: 65 Convictions Set Aside or Defendant Pardoned. A number of jurisdictions have various procedures pursuant to which previous convictions may be set aside or the defendant may be pardoned for reasons unrelated to innocence or errors of law, e.g., in order to restore civil rights or to remove the stigma associated with a criminal conviction. Sentences resulting from such convictions are to be counted. However, expunged convictions are not counted. 66 U.S.S.G. § 4A1.2(j) cmt. n. 10. 67 Mr. Hall received a first offender pardon pursuant to La.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 15:572, which operates to restore all rights of citizenship. See La.Rev.Stat. Ann. § 15:572(b)(1) (A first offender never previously convicted of a felony shall be pardoned automatically upon completion of his sentence . . . .). However, as the Louisiana Supreme Court and the letter submitted by Mr. Hall from the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections acknowledges, such pardons do not restore a felon's right to possess firearms. See State v. West, 754 So.2d 408, 410 (La. App.2000). There is nothing to suggest that Mr. Hall's pardon, which is granted as a matter of course to first time offenders, was in any way related to innocence or an error of law. Indeed, the letter he submits as evidence of the pardon indicates that his right to receive, possess or transport firearms was unaffected by the pardon. Therefore, the conviction was properly counted in assessing his criminal history, as was his felon-in-possession conviction, for which the armed robbery was the predicate felony. 5 68