Opinion ID: 2971793
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: The indictment charged Settle with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), which makes it unlawful for, inter alia, any person who has been convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year to possess, in or affecting commerce, any firearm. After Settle pleaded guilty, his counsel discovered that Settle was only 17 years old at the time he committed the prior felony underlying the alleged § 928(g) violation (a conviction in Shelby County Criminal Court for aggravated assault). Upon Settle’s motion, the state court entered a nunc pro tunc order vacating that judgment as void ab initio. Settle then moved to dismiss the indictment in his federal criminal case on the ground that the district court lacked jurisdiction to enter the judgment of conviction because there was no longer a predicate felony on which to base the alleged § 922(g) violation. The district court denied the motion. We hold that Settle’s argument is foreclosed by clear precedent from the Supreme Court and the Sixth Circuit. In Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S. 55, 65 (1980), the Supreme Court held that the defendant’s conviction for possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of a felony (an analogous statute to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)) was proper, notwithstanding the fact that the defendant was not represented by counsel at the time, in violation of his Sixth Amendment right to counsel. The Court found the relevant statutory language of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to be “sweeping, and its plain meaning is that the fact of a felony conviction imposes a firearm disability until the conviction is vacated or the felon is relieved of his disability by some affirmative action.” Id. at 60-61. The Court noted that the statute makes no exception “for a person whose outstanding felony conviction ultimately might turn out to be invalid for any reason,” id. at 62, and that the “federal gun laws … focus not on reliability, but on the mere fact of conviction,” id. at 67. Thus, “Congress clearly intended that the defendant clear his status before obtaining a firearm, thereby fulfilling Congress’ purpose ‘broadly to keep firearms away from the persons Congress classified as potentially irresponsible and dangerous.’” Id. at 64-65 (quoting Barrett v. United States, 423 U.S. 212, 218 (1976)); accord United States v. Steverson, 230 F.3d 221, 224 (6th Cir. 2000) (holding that trial counsel was not constitutionally ineffective in defending § 922(g) charge for failing to challenge defendant’s prior felony convictions as constitutionally defective; “proof of a defendant’s prior felony convictions is admissible for purposes of proving a § 922(g)(1) violation, even if the prior convictions are constitutionally deficient”). In United States v. Morgan, 216 F.3d 557, 565-66 (6th Cir. 2000), this Court, applying Lewis, held that the defendant’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) was valid, notwithstanding the fact that the state court which previously had convicted him of a felony restored his civil rights after No. 04-5136 United States v. Settle Page 8 his indictment on the federal firearms offense. The Court held that “[i]t is the status of the defendant on the date he possessed the firearm as alleged in the indictment that controls whether or not he has violated the statute, not his later status after his civil rights have been restored.” Id. Similarly, in United States v. Olender, 338 F.3d 629, 636 (6th Cir. 2003) (citations omitted), this Court held that “[t]he defendant’s status on the date of the offense controls whether the felon in possession laws have been violated.” Accordingly, the Court held that the defendant’s conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) was proper when, at the time of his possession of ammunition and a firearm, the defendant had been convicted of felonious assault in state court; the fact that the state court subsequently ruled that the conviction had been erroneously entered as a felony instead of a misdemeanor was “irrelevant.” Id. at 631. See also United States v. Ledbetter, No. 85-5343, 1986 WL 16225, at - (6th Cir. Mar. 5, 1986) (unpublished; per curiam) (holding that it was immaterial that the state court declared the defendant’s predicate felony void ab initio several months after his conviction on a federal firearms charge). It is undisputed that Settle had a state court felony conviction for aggravated assault on July 4, 2002, the date on which the police cited him for unlawful possession of a firearm. Therefore, the fact that the Shelby County Criminal Court subsequently invalidated that conviction is irrelevant. The district court properly denied Settle’s motion to dismiss the indictment. Settle’s argument that the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because of the subsequently invalidated state felony conviction is really a dispute concerning whether the government proved all of the elements necessary to sustain a conviction under § 922(g). As the Seventh Circuit has held, “[t]hat question is easily answered because [the defendant] necessarily admitted every element comprising the offense charged after he pled guilty.” United States v. Wallace, 280 F.3d 781, 784 (7th Cir. 2002) (citing United States v. Broce, 488 U.S. 563, 569 (1989); McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459, 466 (1969)). By pleading guilty, Settle admitted that he had a prior felony conviction, and he may not challenge that admission before this court under the guise of a jurisdictional challenge. Id. For this reason as well, Settle’s argument lacks merit.