Court Opinion

ID: 9377099
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-03-06 22:00:33.801705+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:17:11.992265
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 20-11877    Document: 42-1      Date Filed: 03/06/2023    Page: 1 of 38

                                                              [PUBLISH]
                                    In the
                 United States Court of Appeals
                         For the Eleventh Circuit

                           ____________________

                                 No. 20-11877
                           ____________________

        UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                       Plaintiff-Appellant,
        versus
        IDRIS SHAMSID-DEEN,

                                                     Defendant-Appellee.

                           ____________________

                  Appeal from the United States District Court
                       for the Middle District of Georgia
                  D.C. Docket No. 5:18-cr-00071-MTT-CHW-1
                            ____________________
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        2                      Opinion of the Court                20-11877

        Before JILL PRYOR, BRANCH, and ED CARNES, Circuit Judges.
        ED CARNES, Circuit Judge:
               Under the federal criminal code, various categories of peo-
        ple are prohibited from possessing firearms. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).
        The category that most frequently results in a charge for unlaw-
        fully possessing a firearm consists of those who have been con-
        victed in any court of “a crime punishable by imprisonment for a
        term exceeding one year.” See id. § 922(g)(1). A smaller category,
        and one that is not as well-known, consists of people who have
        been “convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic
        violence.” See id. § 922(g)(9). This case is about that smaller cate-
        gory. It involves a firearms possession charge based on a previous
        domestic violence misdemeanor conviction.
               The question before us arises from an exception contained in
        the statutory definition of the term “misdemeanor crime of domes-
        tic violence.” Id. § 921(a)(33). Under the exception, an otherwise
        qualifying previous conviction that was obtained without a jury
        trial does not count unless “the person knowingly and intelligently
        waived the right to have the case tried by a jury, by guilty plea or
        otherwise.” Id. § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb).
               Idris Shamsid-Deen, found in possession of a firearm, was
        charged with violating § 922(g)(9) based on a previous misde-
        meanor conviction for battery under the Georgia Family Violence
        Act, O.C.G.A. §§ 16-5-23.1, 19-13-1. The district court granted his
        pretrial motion to exclude evidence of that previous conviction
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        20-11877                 Opinion of the Court                           3

        after determining that his waiver of a jury trial in the earlier state
        proceeding resulting in the conviction had not been knowing and
        intelligent. Because that pretrial ruling left the government with-
        out any evidence to prove the prior qualifying conviction element
        of the charged § 922(g)(9) offense, the government filed this appeal.
        See 18 U.S.C. § 3731.
                        I. The Procedural History and Facts
              A. The 2014 Georgia Misdemeanor Battery Conviction
               After a fight with his girlfriend, Shamsid-Deen was charged
        in Bibb County, Georgia, in December 2013 with misdemeanor
        battery under Georgia’s Family Violence Act, O.C.G.A. §§ 16-5-
        23.1, 19-13-1. Minutes before a bench trial of that charge was sched-
        uled to begin in the state court of that county in April 2014, the
        prosecutor, defense counsel, and Shamsid-Deen signed both sides
        of a double-sided form.
                The first side of the form explained the right to counsel and
        noted that “an attorney has education and experience concerning
        . . . how to select a jury if I desire a jury trial.” Doc. 70-2. This same
        side of the form gave Shamsid-Deen three options, and he initialed
        next to the one containing this statement: “I desire to be repre-
        sented by an attorney and will pursue all diligent and reasonable
        efforts to hire one, if I have not already done so.” Id.
               The second side of the form, titled “Record of the Court,”
        explained some procedural matters and the consequences of
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        4                       Opinion of the Court                 20-11877

        various kinds of pleas. Doc. 70-3. It also contained the following
        language:
              I am fully aware that upon a not guilty plea, I have
              the right to a trial, either before a jury or the Court
              . . . . I understand that if I plead guilty, I will waive
              (give up) these rights to a trial. . . . I also understand
              that a conviction on certain offenses may affect my
              . . . right to possess a firearm.
        Id. (emphasis added). This same side of the form included two
        pleading options, “guilty plea” and “not guilty plea,” and a line next
        to each for the defendant to initial the selected option. Id. Shamsid-
        Deen initialed the line next to “not guilty plea,” which provided:
              I plead NOT GUILTY to the charge(s) against me and
              request a non jury trial. I knowingly and voluntarily
              waive (give up) my right to a trial before a jury of six
              persons chosen from citizens of Bibb County called
              for jury duty who would hear the evidence and law
              and decide if I am guilty or not guilty. I want my case
               to be heard and decided by the Judge acting without
               a jury.
        Id. (emphasis added).
                The judge also signed this second side of the form, just be-
        low this statement: “Upon inquiry in this case as required by law,
        the Court finds that the plea of the Defendant is freely and volun-
        tarily entered and any waiver of rights is done with a full under-
        standing of those rights and with an understanding of the charges
        against the Defendant.” Id.
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                         5

                Neither side of the form contained a place for a defendant to
        sign, initial, or check to indicate that he wanted to plead not guilty
        and have a jury trial.
               At the start of the bench trial itself, the prosecutor told the
        judge that Shamsid-Deen wished “to plead not guilty” and “pro-
        ceed with his attorney” to “have a non-jury trial before [the court]
        this afternoon.” The court replied, “Mr. Shamsid-Deen, is that
        what you want to do?” Shamsid-Deen answered, “Yes, sir.”
                After hearing testimony from the victim, the investigating
        police officer, and Shamsid-Deen, the court found him guilty of
        battery under the Georgia Family Violence Act. Before sentencing,
        defense counsel asked the court to consider that Shamsid-Deen had
        “proceeded on a non-jury basis to avoid the trial tax,” and ex-
        plained: “[A] lot of times I tell defendants, you know, I like bench
        trials because you don’t waste jurors’ time, and it helps you sort of
        avoid the trial tax sometimes.” By “trial tax,” Shamsid-Deen’s law-
        yer meant the “perception that state-court defendants electing a
        jury trial face harsher sentences.” The court sentenced Shamsid-
        Deen to 12 months jail time, to be served on probation.
              B. The § 922(g)(9) Federal Indictment and Proceedings
               About three-and-a-half years later, in November 2017,
        Shamsid-Deen was found in possession of a revolver. Based on that
        and his Georgia battery conviction, he was indicted in December
        2018 for violating § 922(g)(9) by possessing a firearm after convic-
        tion of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence. He filed three
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        6                      Opinion of the Court                20-11877

        motions to dismiss the indictment, each one asserting some varia-
        tion of this contention: his Georgia battery conviction did not qual-
        ify as a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence because he hadn’t
        knowingly and intelligently waived his right to a jury trial, which
        under § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) is an exception to § 922(g)(9). And
        each time, the district court rejected that argument as a premature
        request to determine the sufficiency of the evidence supporting an
        affirmative defense to the § 922(g)(9) charge.
                During a hearing on the motions to dismiss, the court heard
        testimony from the Bibb County Solicitor General about the
        county court’s general procedures in 2014, when Shamsid-Deen
        was convicted of domestic violence battery. The Solicitor General
        testified that unrepresented misdemeanor defendants in Bibb
        County typically attended a mass “cattle call” initial appearance
        where they each received a copy of the standard, double-sided form
        and, as a group, heard a judge explain their rights. But that proce-
        dure changed if a defendant had a lawyer, as Shamsid-Deen did.
        Where a defendant had a lawyer, Bibb County treated the lawyer’s
        entry of appearance as a waiver of the initial appearance and “re-
        lie[d] upon that person’s attorney to explain their rights to them.”
               The Solicitor General testified that “any time a defendant is
        represented — the only way for a defendant to get off of a jury trial
        calendar is for the defendant or the defendant’s attorney to request
        a plea or a non-jury trial; otherwise, we proceed — our default is
        to go to jury trial.” At the time Shamsid-Deen was convicted, a
        defendant’s case “automatically [was] put on the jury calendar,”
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                        7

        and defendants didn’t “get onto a non-jury trial calendar without
        asking for it” because “the default [was] a jury.” When asked about
        “what opportunities” a defendant who wanted a jury trial would
        “have had to ask for that jury trial,” the Solicitor General replied:
        “They don’t even have to ask; they are automatically going on a
        jury trial term. . . . That’s the default.”
                The Solicitor General also testified about Shamsid-Deen’s
        case in particular. After reviewing his case file, she explained that
        he had been “scheduled for first appearance on January 10th, 2014,”
        where “he would have heard his rights recited by the judge” and
        “would have received a copy of the Record of the Court and
        Waiver of Rights form.” She stated that there was a notation on
        his file in her handwriting that said “to hire lawyer,” and she ex-
        plained: “[I]f I wrote ‘to hire lawyer,’ that means I talked to him,
        and he would have gotten his rights sheet, and he would have
        heard the judge’s — one of the judges recite the rights.” Although
        she didn’t know whether she was “the one who took the case all
        the way through,” she did know that it was her handwriting on the
        form from “that Friday morning arraignment.”
               As we have mentioned, the court ultimately denied
        Shamsid-Deen’s motions to dismiss. But the court noted that if
        Shamsid-Deen could “think[] of a way to get before [it] the issue of
        whether his jury trial waiver was effective,” the court would con-
        sider that issue. The court also “tentatively agree[d]” with the gov-
        ernment’s suggestion that “an appropriate vehicle to raise” the
        waiver issue was a Fed. R. Evid. 104(a) hearing. Shamsid-Deen
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        8                      Opinion of the Court                20-11877

        quickly filed a Rule 104 motion in limine asking the court to ex-
        clude the evidence of his Georgia battery conviction.
               In his motion, Shamsid-Deen noted that the form he had
        signed minutes before his bench trial contained only two plea op-
        tions, neither of which allowed him to choose a jury trial. He also
        pointed out that “despite explaining that the person has a right to a
        jury trial, the form does not explain how the accused invokes his
        right to a jury trial.” And he explained that a Bibb County defend-
        ant in 2014 who had a lawyer “generally” did not attend an initial
        appearance or hear a judge explain his rights; instead, the county
        relied on the defendant’s lawyer “to explain his rights to him.”
               Shamsid-Deen also asserted that while he “may have been
        present for his initial appearance on January 10, 2014,” the parties
        agreed it was “unknown” whether he was actually there. What
        was “known” was that he wanted to plead not guilty and had se-
        lected the only option on the form he signed for doing that, which
        was “pleading not guilty, but waiving his right to a jury trial.” He
        added that the government hadn’t shown that when he pleaded
        guilty to the Georgia domestic violence battery charge that anyone
        had explained to him his right to a jury trial, had told him how to
        exercise that right, or had given him the option of exercising that
        right. In his view, the government had the burden of persuasion
        and, given the lack of proof that he had knowingly and intelligently
        waived his right to a jury trial, the Georgia domestic violence bat-
        tery conviction was not admissible.
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                        9

               Based on those assertions, Shamsid-Deen contended the
        court should exclude the evidence of his Georgia battery convic-
        tion under Rule 104(a). He argued that the § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb)
        exception made proof of a knowing waiver a “necessary precondi-
        tion” to his conviction qualifying as a misdemeanor crime of do-
        mestic violence. And because the conviction didn’t qualify, it
        wasn’t relevant evidence and, under Rule 104(a), it wasn’t admissi-
        ble.
               In response to Shamsid-Deen’s motion in limine, the gov-
        ernment contended that, as the moving party, Shamsid-Deen had
        both burdens — production and persuasion — and hadn’t met
        either one. It argued that he had the burden of production because
        the § 921(a)(33)(B) exception is an affirmative defense. And he had
        the burden of persuasion because he was “likely to have signifi-
        cantly more knowledge” about his Georgia battery conviction than
        the prosecutor would, so putting the burden on him “maximizes
        the likelihood of more accurate fact finding.”
                The government noted that Shamsid-Deen had chosen not
        to call his former lawyer as a witness even after the district court
        asked him if he wanted to do so. And it pointed out that Shamsid-
        Deen had waived his right to a jury trial in another misdemeanor
        case five years before the misdemeanor battery conviction in ques-
        tion. That, the government argued, was “some evidence” of
        Shamsid-Deen’s “familiarity with the process for waiving the right
        to a jury trial.” Finally, the government argued the court should
        assess admissibility under subsection (a) of Rule 104 instead of
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        10                     Opinion of the Court                20-11877

        under subsection (b) because subsection (a) is a better pretrial ve-
        hicle for addressing questions of law like whether Shamsid-Deen
        knowingly and intelligently waived his right to a jury trial.
               Shamsid-Deen contended that the jury waiver form he had
        signed before his bench trial was itself enough evidence to grant his
        motion because it was coercive. That form, he argued, was coer-
        cive because it failed to explain how he could assert the right to a
        jury trial, essentially “directing” defendants who wanted to plead
        not guilty toward bench trials by giving them only that option. In
        addition, the form was changed in 2018, four years after Shamsid-
        Deen’s bench trial and conviction, to include three plea options in-
        stead of two. The additional option on the newer form allows a
        defendant to initial a blank line indicating his choice to plead not
        guilty and request a jury trial.
                As for the lack of testimony from his attorney in the Georgia
        state battery proceedings about their conversations during those
        proceedings, Shamsid-Deen contended that the absence of that tes-
        timony actually established his right to relief. Without any evi-
        dence about what his attorney had told him, the party with the bur-
        den of persuasion on the jury waiver issue would lose, and he ar-
        gued that party was the government. The government countered
        that it was Shamsid-Deen who had the burden of proving that his
        waiver was not valid, and the general procedures of the county
        court put the waiver form in context and supported a conclusion
        that Shamsid-Deen’s waiver was knowing.
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        20-11877                Opinion of the Court                        11

               The district court granted Shamsid-Deen’s motion to ex-
        clude evidence of his Georgia domestic violence battery convic-
        tion. It noted that the parties agreed § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II) is an af-
        firmative defense, and it believed that they were correct because
        the provision meets the three-part test this Court has used to deter-
        mine whether to treat an exception to a criminal statute as an af-
        firmative defense. See United States v. McArthur, 108 F.3d 1350,
        1353 (11th Cir. 1997) (noting that we “begin with the language and
        structure of the statute,” then “examine the legislative history of
        the provision,” and finally “decide whether the defendant or the
        government is better situated to adduce evidence tending to prove
        or disprove the applicability of the exception”).
               The court also found that “the affirmative defense estab-
        lished by § 921[(a)](33)(B)[(i)](II) does not negate an element of the
        § 922(g)(9) offense.”        That’s because the exception in
        § 921(a)(33)(B) is “wholly separate from the definition” of a misde-
        meanor crime of domestic violence in § 921(a)(33)(A), which
        means a conviction could both qualify as a § 922(g)(9) offense un-
        der subsection (A) and “nonetheless be subject to the exception in
        subsection (B).” So the court found that Shamsid-Deen had the
        burden of production, which “generally rests on the defendant”
        when “an affirmative defense does not negate an element of the
        crime.”
               The district court then turned to the burden of persuasion
        issue, which it acknowledged was a more difficult one. The court
        concluded that our statement in United States v. Laroche, 723 F.2d
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        12                      Opinion of the Court                 20-11877

        1541, 1543 (11th Cir. 1984), that the government had the burden of
        persuasion for affirmative defenses created through statutory ex-
        ceptions was only dicta. See Welch v. United States, 958 F.3d 1093,
        1098 (11th Cir. 2020) (“[D]icta is not binding on anyone for any
        purpose.”); United States v. Pickett, 916 F.3d 960, 966 (11th Cir.
        2019); In re BFW Liquidation, LLC, 899 F.3d 1178, 1186 (11th Cir.
        2018). Finding no binding Eleventh Circuit precedent, the district
        court was persuaded by the First Circuit’s reasoning in United
        States v. Hartsock, 347 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2003). In that case, the First
        Circuit reasoned that because the government will rarely have ac-
        cess to evidence about a defendant’s waiver, saddling it with the
        burden of persuasion would “substantially hamper” its ability to
        enforce § 922(g). See id. at 9–10. Agreeing with that reasoning, the
        district court found that Shamsid-Deen had the burden of persua-
        sion as well as the burden of production.
               After putting both burdens on Shamsid-Deen, the district
        court was persuaded that he had carried both of them and that he
        had established his waiver of a jury trial of the 2014 Georgia do-
        mestic violence battery charge had not been knowing and intelli-
        gent. It had not been because the waiver form he had signed “did
        not unequivocally apprise defendants of their jury trial rights” and
        there was no evidence that Shamsid-Deen’s attorney had explained
        those rights to him. The form was also structurally misleading be-
        cause it offered only two plea options, which Shamsid-Deen “could
        have reasonably concluded . . . were the only options available to
        him.”
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                       13

               The court found that the form’s flaws were not cured by the
        bench trial record in the Georgia case, which showed what it called
        “no evidence of an effective jury trial waiver.” The court thought
        that the brief colloquy between Shamsid-Deen and the judge
        “simply confirm[ed] the executed form — of the two options avail-
        able, Shamsid-Deen opted for a bench trial.” It recognized that
        Shamsid-Deen’s former attorney’s reference to avoiding a “trial
        tax” indicated that the attorney “may have made a strategic deci-
        sion to waive a jury trial.” But the court thought that even if the
        attorney had made that decision, there was “no indication that
        Shamsid-Deen understood the rights that counsel had relin-
        quished.” And the court found that Bibb County’s general court
        practices didn’t show Shamsid-Deen’s waiver was valid because,
        while there was evidence he may have been present at his initial
        appearance to hear a judge explain his rights, there was also some
        evidence that his scheduled appearance had been canceled because
        he had obtained an attorney the day before the appearance was to
        occur.
              Finally, the district court noted that it had given the parties
        time to consider whether to present Shamsid-Deen’s testimony or
        testimony from his former lawyer. But “[w]hatever significance
        can be attached to the absence of” their testimony, the court
        thought that it did “not undermine” the court’s finding that the ev-
        idence, particularly the form, was “more than sufficient to warrant
        the conclusion that Shamsid-Deen did not knowingly and intelli-
        gently waive his right to a jury trial.” Because Shamsid-Deen’s
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        14                     Opinion of the Court                   20-11877

        waiver wasn’t knowing and intelligent, the court granted his pre-
        trial motion to exclude evidence of his Georgia domestic violence
        battery conviction.
                                     II. Analysis
                Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), it is unlawful for a person “who
        has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domes-
        tic violence” to “possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or
        ammunition.” A separate provision, § 921(a)(33), defines “misde-
        meanor crime of domestic violence” as an offense that both is a
        misdemeanor under any law and:
              has, as an element, the use or attempted use of phys-
              ical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon,
              committed by a current or former spouse, parent, or
              guardian of the victim, by a person with whom the
              victim shares a child in common, by a person who is
              cohabiting with or has cohabited with the victim as a
              spouse, parent, or guardian, by a person similarly sit-
              uated to a spouse, parent, or guardian of the victim,
              or by a person who has a current or recent former da-
              ting relationship with the victim.
        Id. § 921(a)(33)(A). A different subsection of § 921(a)(33) provides
        exceptions to that definition, including that:
              A person shall not be considered to have been con-
              victed of [a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence]
              for purposes of this chapter, unless . . . in the case of a
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        20-11877                 Opinion of the Court                        15

               prosecution for an offense . . . for which a person was
               entitled to a jury trial . . . the person knowingly and
               intelligently waived the right to have the case tried by
               a jury . . . .
        Id. § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb).
               “A defendant may waive his Sixth Amendment right to a
        jury trial when: (1) he gives express, intelligent consent; (2) the
        government consents; and (3) the waiver is approved by the re-
        sponsible judgment of the trial court.” United States v. Diaz, 540
        F.3d 1316, 1321 (11th Cir. 2008) (quotation marks omitted). The
        trial court to which the waiver is submitted must determine
        whether it is knowing and intelligent based on the circumstances
        of the case. Id. By alerting the state trial court to Shamsid-Deen’s
        desire to proceed without a jury, the prosecutor for his Georgia
        domestic violence battery charge indicated the government’s con-
        sent to his waiver of a jury. And by proceeding to try Shamsid-
        Deen without a jury, the state trial court approved his waiver of a
        jury.
                The ultimate question we must answer is whether, as the
        district court concluded, Shamsid-Deen did not knowingly and in-
        telligently waive his right to a jury trial in the state proceeding that
        led to his conviction of misdemeanor battery under Georgia’s Fam-
        ily Violence Act. If he didn’t, the district court’s order excluding
        any evidence of that conviction is due to be affirmed. Otherwise,
        that order is due to be reversed.
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        16                      Opinion of the Court                  20-11877

                We first decide what standard of review applies to the dis-
        trict court’s decision. We then decide which party has the burden
        of production and which one has the burden of persuasion. Once
        those legal premises are determined, we apply them to the relevant
        facts in the record before us.
                               A. Standard of Review
                   1. For the § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) Exception
                We have never decided what standard of review applies to a
        district court decision excluding evidence of a prior conviction
        based on the court’s conclusion that the conviction fell into a stat-
        utory exception that encapsulates a constitutional defect in the pro-
        ceedings leading to the conviction. We have, however, decided the
        standard of review that applies to circumstances analogous to the
        present one.
               The analogous circumstances we are talking about are not
        those involving run-of-the-mill evidentiary and trial procedure rul-
        ings of the type that routinely arise in nearly every trial. The nor-
        mal, typical, usual standard for reviewing normal, typical, usual ev-
        identiary and trial procedure rulings is abuse of discretion. See, e.g.,
        Gen. Elec. Co. v. Joiner, 522 U.S. 136, 141 (1997) (stating, in a case
        involving admission of expert opinion evidence, that “abuse of dis-
        cretion is the proper standard of review of a district court’s eviden-
        tiary rulings”); United States v. Abel, 469 U.S. 45, 53–55 (1984) (re-
        viewing for abuse of discretion a district court’s determination
        about whether the prejudicial effect of evidence outweighed its
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        20-11877                Opinion of the Court                         17

        probative value); United States v. Barsoum, 763 F.3d 1321, 1341
        (11th Cir. 2014) (reviewing for abuse of discretion the denial of a
        motion for new trial on the basis of newly discovered evidence).
                There are good reasons why abuse of discretion is the stand-
        ard of review in those circumstances. For one thing, “as a matter
        of the sound administration of justice,” it is wise to vest discretion
        in the “judicial actor . . . better positioned than another to decide
        the issue in question.” Pierce v. Underwood, 487 U.S. 552, 559–60
        (1988) (quotation marks omitted). “Immersed in the case as it un-
        folds, a district court is more familiar with the procedural and fac-
        tual details and is in a better position to decide” many evidentiary
        and similar issues. United States v. Brown, 415 F.3d 1257, 1266
        (11th Cir. 2005); see also Cooter & Gell v. Hartmax Corp., 496 U.S.
        394, 404 (1990) (recognizing the value of “[d]eference to the deter-
        mination of courts on the front lines of litigation”); United States v.
        Whatley, 719 F.3d 1206, 1219 (11th Cir. 2013) (“Our deferential
        standard respects that the district court has a better vantage point
        from which to make this judgment call.”).
               We have also recognized that “the district court is uniquely
        situated to make nuanced judgments on questions that require the
        careful balancing of fact-specific concepts like probativeness and
        prejudice, and we are loathe to disturb the sound exercise of its dis-
        cretion in these areas.” United States v. McGregor, 960 F.3d 1319,
        1324–25 (11th Cir. 2020) (quoting United States v. Jernigan, 341
        F.3d 1273, 1285 (11th Cir. 2003)). And sometimes deferential re-
        view is necessary to give the district court the “flexibility to resolve
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        18                     Opinion of the Court                 20-11877

        questions involving multifarious, fleeting, special, narrow facts that
        utterly resist generalization.” Cooter & Gell, 496 U.S. at 404 (quo-
        tation marks omitted).
               There’s another reason that purely evidentiary and trial pro-
        cedure issues get abuse of discretion review and not de novo re-
        view: giving them de novo review would encourage more appeals,
        which would not be a good thing. See id. (noting an abuse of dis-
        cretion standard “will also discourage litigants from pursuing mar-
        ginal appeals, thus reducing the amount of satellite litigation”);
        Brown, 415 F.3d at 1266 (“And we don’t want to denigrate the im-
        portance of the trial and encourage appeals of rulings relating to
        the testimony of expert witnesses.”).
                Rulings on issues of law, including those that apply law to
        fact, are a different matter. De novo review of issues of law is ap-
        propriate because a court of appeals is in as good a position to de-
        cide them as a district court is. Not only that, but a non-deferential
        standard of review is necessary for what the Supreme Court has
        recognized as a federal appellate court’s “primary function as an
        expositor of law.” Miller v. Fenton, 474 U.S. 104, 114 (1985); see
        also Cooter & Gell, 496 U.S. at 404 (referring to “the normal law-
        clarifying benefits that come from an appellate decision on a ques-
        tion of law”) (quotation marks omitted).
               With an abuse of discretion standard there is often “a range
        of choice for the district court” within which we will affirm the
        court’s decision regardless of which way it rules, “so long as that
        choice does not constitute a clear error of judgment.” In re
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                        19

        Rasbury, 24 F.3d 159, 168 (11th Cir. 1994) (quotation marks omit-
        ted). As we explained about our affirmance in Rasbury:
                Quite frankly, we would have affirmed the district
                court had it reached a different result, and if we were
                reviewing this matter de novo, we may well have de-
                cided it differently. By definition, however, under the
                abuse of discretion standard of review there will be
                occasions in which we affirm the district court even
                though we would have gone the other way had it
                been our call. That is how an abuse of discretion
                standard differs from a de novo standard of review.
        Id.; accord, e.g., United States v. Frazier, 387 F.3d 1244, 1259 (11th
        Cir. 2004) (en banc).
               This means that if we reviewed legal issues only for an abuse
        of discretion and two district courts (or the same district court in
        different cases) decided an identical legal issue in opposite ways, we
        could affirm both of them so long as neither decision constituted a
        clear error of judgment. See Rasbury, 24 F.3d at 168; Frazier, 387
        F.3d at 1259; MSP Recovery Claims, Series LLC v. Hanover Ins.
        Co., 995 F.3d 1289, 1296 (11th Cir. 2021) (“Of course, by saying that
        the district court did not abuse its discretion [in deciding not to
        award attorney’s fees and costs], we do not address whether an-
        other or even the same district court could properly decide to
        award attorney’s fees and costs when faced with a substantially
        similar removal.”). The strength of the abuse of discretion standard
        is that it provides district courts with some flexibility in deciding
        evidentiary and trial procedure matters. The strength of the de
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        20                       Opinion of the Court                    20-11877

        novo standard is that it does not; it sacrifices district court flexibility
        in favor of clarity, uniformity, and consistency in the decision of
        legal issues.
               That is why we review district court decisions of constitu-
        tional issues –– the most important issues of law –– not for abuse
        of discretion but de novo. See, e.g., United States v. Dennis, 26
        F.4th 922, 926 (11th Cir. 2022) (“We review questions of law de
        novo.”); United States v. Underwood, 446 F.3d 1340, 1345 (11th
        Cir. 2006) (“We review questions of constitutional law de novo.”);
        United States v. Brown, 364 F.3d 1266, 1268 (11th Cir. 2004); Nich-
        ols v. Hopper, 173 F.3d 820, 822 (11th Cir. 1999). To use a formu-
        lation that is especially relevant for this case, we have held that:
        “When an evidentiary ruling implicates a constitutional question,
        we review those legal questions de novo.” United States v. Ma-
        chado, 886 F.3d 1070, 1085 n.14 (11th Cir. 2018).
               De novo review also applies to review of decisions of non-
        constitutional issues of law. See, e.g., U.S. Bank Nat’l Ass’n ex rel.
        CWCapital Asset Mgmt. LLC v. Vill. at Lakeridge, LLC, 138 S. Ct.
        960, 965 (2018); Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Mgmt. Sys., Inc.,
        572 U.S. 559, 563 (2014); AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, 563
        U.S. 333, 350 (2011); Viverette v. Comm’r of Soc. Sec., 13 F.4th
        1309, 1313–14 (11th Cir. 2021); Talamantes-Enriquez v. U.S. Att’y
        Gen., 12 F.4th 1340, 1347 (11th Cir. 2021); Senter v. United States,
        983 F.3d 1289, 1291 n.3 (11th Cir. 2020); United States v. Goldman,
        953 F.3d 1213, 1223 (11th Cir. 2020).
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                      21

               And de novo is the standard used in reviewing the issues of
        law in mixed questions of law and fact. See, e.g., U.S. Bank Nat.
        Ass’n, 138 S. Ct. at 967 (noting that when mixed questions “require
        courts to expound on the law, particularly by amplifying or elabo-
        rating on a broad legal standard,” or “when applying the law in-
        volves developing auxiliary legal principles of use in other cases,”
        courts “should typically review a decision de novo”); Wallace v.
        Jaffree, 472 U.S. 38, 76 (1985) (O’Connor, J., concurring) (noting
        that certain First Amendment issues “are mixed questions of law
        and fact that are properly subject to de novo appellate review”);
        United States v. Gonzalez-Zea, 995 F.3d 1297, 1301 (11th Cir. 2021)
        (“Because rulings on motions to suppress involve mixed questions
        of fact and law, we review the district court’s factual findings for
        clear error and its application of the law to the facts de novo.”)
        (quoting United States v. Jordan, 635 F.3d 1181, 1185 (11th Cir.
        2011)); Carmichael v. United States, 966 F.3d 1250, 1258 (11th Cir.
        2020) (“In an appeal from a section 2255 proceeding, we review le-
        gal conclusions de novo and factual findings for clear error.”).
                Because the validity of a waiver of a constitutional right —
        whether it was knowing, intelligent, and voluntary –– presents a
        mixed question of law and fact, we have consistently held that a
        district court’s decision about it is subject to de novo review. See
        United States v. Garey, 540 F.3d 1253, 1268 (11th Cir. 2008) (en
        banc) (waiver of counsel); United States v. Hakim, 30 F.4th 1310,
        1318 (11th Cir. 2022) (waiver of counsel); United States v. Cash, 47
        F.3d 1083, 1088 (11th Cir. 1995) (waiver of counsel). And, even
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        22                       Opinion of the Court                   20-11877

        more on point for this case, we have also held that the validity of a
        waiver of the right to a jury trial is a mixed question of law and fact
        that we review de novo. See Diaz, 540 F.3d at 1321; United States
        v. Farris, 77 F.3d 391, 396 (11th Cir. 1996).
               All of this precedent points in the same direction: toward de
        novo review of a district court’s decision about whether a defend-
        ant’s waiver of his right to a jury trial was knowingly and intelli-
        gently made. To be sure, that issue comes clothed in the unusual
        procedural context of the § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) exception to the
        crime defined in § 922(g)(9). But the exception contained in item
        (bb) is defined in terms of the test for waiver of constitutional
        rights. Instead of saying “unless . . . the person knowingly and in-
        telligently waived the right to have the case tried by a jury,” as it
        did, Congress might as well have said: “unless . . . there was no
        constitutionally valid jury waiver.”
                If we view the (bb) exception as what it is in substance, the
        issue is a constitutional one, which is subject to de novo review.
        Even if we don’t view it as a constitutional issue, it is still at least a
        legal issue, or a mixed issue of law and fact, or the application of
        law to fact. Different verbal formulations, same standard of review.
        For all of these reasons, we hold that a district court’s decision
        about whether the § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) exception applies in
        this § 922(g)(9) prosecution is subject to de novo review.
               For what it’s worth, our holding matches the holdings of the
        other four courts of appeals that have decided this issue in the con-
        text of § 921(a)(33)(B); all agree that de novo review is the proper
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                        23

        standard. United States v. Akins, 276 F.3d 1141, 1146 (9th Cir. 2002);
        Hartsock, 347 F.3d at 4; United States v. Bethurum, 343 F.3d 712,
        716–17 (5th Cir. 2003); United States v. Smith, 171 F.3d 617, 619,
        621–22 (8th Cir. 1999).
               2. For the Burden of Production and Persuasion Issues
               The other standard of review question we must answer is
        what type of review we must give to the district court’s decision
        about which party bears the burdens of production and persuasion
        on the § 921(a)(33)(B) exception issue. And who bears those bur-
        dens depends on two different questions of law: (1) whether
        § 921(a)(33)(B) defines the elements of a misdemeanor crime of do-
        mestic violence or is instead an affirmative defense to that offense;
        and (2) whether, if § 921(a)(33)(B) is an affirmative defense, it ne-
        gates an element of the domestic violence offense.
               Both questions are resolved through examination of the stat-
        utory language. See, e.g., United States v. Johnson, 981 F.3d 1171,
        1183–87 (11th Cir. 2020) (evaluating § 921(a)(33)(B) to determine
        whether it defines elements or sets out affirmative defenses);
        United States v. Kloess, 251 F.3d 941, 947 (11th Cir. 2001) (evaluat-
        ing 18 U.S.C. § 1515(c) to determine whether it is an affirmative
        defense that “tends to negate an element of the crime charged” and
        therefore has to be “disproved by the government”) (emphasis
        omitted); McArthur, 108 F.3d at 1353 (noting that we “begin with
        the language and structure of the statute” when evaluating
        “whether an exception to a criminal offense is an element of the
        crime or an affirmative defense”).
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        24                      Opinion of the Court                  20-11877

               It is well settled that questions of statutory construction are
        legal determinations that we review de novo. See, e.g., United
        States v. Svete, 556 F.3d 1157, 1161 (11th Cir. 2009) (en banc)
        (“Questions of statutory construction are reviewed de novo.”);
        United States v. Evans, 478 F.3d 1332, 1341 (11th Cir. 2007); United
        States v. Johnson, 399 F.3d 1297, 1298 (11th Cir. 2005); United
        States v. Trainor, 376 F.3d 1325, 1330 (11th Cir. 2004).
             B. The Applicable Burdens of Production and Persuasion
               In a close case, the burdens of production and persuasion can
        decide the case. See, e.g., United States v. Iriele, 977 F.3d 1155, 1177
        (11th Cir. 2020) (noting that where the defendant bears the burden
        of persuasion, a “tie goes to the government”); United States v. Ro-
        driguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1300 (11th Cir. 2005) (“Where errors could
        have cut either way and uncertainty exists, the burden is the deci-
        sive factor . . . .”); Goldman Sachs Grp., Inc. v. Ark. Teacher Ret.
        Sys., 141 S. Ct. 1951, 1970 (2021) (Gorsuch, J., concurring in part
        and dissenting in part) (“The whole reason we allocate the burden
        of persuasion is to resolve close cases by providing a tie breaker
        where the burden does make a difference.”). The district court
        found that both burdens were on Shamsid-Deen. We agree.
                            1. The Burden of Production
               Whether the defendant or the government bears the burden
        of production depends on whether the § 921(a)(33)(B) exception
        defines an element of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence”
        or sets out an affirmative defense to that crime. If it defines an
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                        25

        element of the crime, the government must both plead and prove
        the existence of it. See Johnson, 981 F.3d at 1184 n.8 (“[I]f the Sec-
        tion 921(a)(33)(B) components were elements, the government
        would be required to prove them.”); In re Winship, 397 U.S. 358,
        364 (1970) (holding that the government must prove every element
        of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt). But if § 921(a)(33)(B) in-
        stead sets out an affirmative defense, “the defendant has the burden
        of going forward with sufficient evidence to raise the exception as
        an issue.” Laroche, 723 F.2d at 1543; United States v. Alvarez, 755
        F.2d 830, 842 n.12 (11th Cir. 1985).
                 Our Johnson decision, which came out after this case left the
        district court, is binding precedent that vindicates the district
        court’s decision that § 921(a)(33)(B) contains affirmative defenses,
        which puts the burden of production on Shamsid-Deen. See 981
        F.3d at 1182, 1184 n.8; cf. Alvarez, 755 F.2d at 842 n.12 (“[T]he ab-
        sence of self-defense is not an element of the crime. Rather, self-
        defense is an affirmative defense on which the defendant bears the
        burden of production.”). In Johnson, we explained that § 921(a)(33)
        “includes two subsections” and that “subsection (a)(33)(A) contains
        . . . elements” while “subsection (a)(33)(B) contains affirmative de-
        fenses.” 981 F.3d at 1182. We would be bound under the prior
        panel precedent rule to follow that holding even if we believed it
        to be wrong, but we note that it aligns with our decisions charac-
        terizing other § 921(a) exceptions. See, e.g., United States v. Jack-
        son, 57 F.3d 1012, 1015–17 (11th Cir. 1995) (implicitly recognizing
        that § 921(a)(20) is an affirmative defense); Laroche, 723 F.2d at
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        26                      Opinion of the Court                 20-11877

        1543 (explicitly recognizing that § 921(a)(3) and § 921(a)(16) are af-
        firmative defenses).
               So, Shamsid-Deen had the burden of production.
                            2. The Burden of Persuasion
               Whether the district court is correct that Shamsid-Deen also
        had the burden of persuasion depends on whether the affirmative
        defense in § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) negates an element of the “mis-
        demeanor crime of domestic violence” offense. “Any defense
        which tends to negate an element of the crime charged, sufficiently
        raised by the defendant, must be disproved by the government.”
        Kloess, 251 F.3d at 947 (emphasis omitted); see also id. at 948 (“[I]f
        the defendant introduces evidence that has the effect of negating
        any element of the offense, the government must disprove that de-
        fense beyond a reasonable doubt.”). So to decide who has the bur-
        den of persuasion here, the precise question we need to answer is
        whether § 921(a)(33)(B) affirmative defenses negate, “contradict or
        tend to disprove any element of” § 922(g)(9), see Dixon v. United
        States, 548 U.S. 1, 11 (2006), which criminalizes possession of a fire-
        arm by a person who has been convicted of a misdemeanor crime
        of domestic violence, or § 921(a)(33)(A), which defines what con-
        stitutes a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence, see Johnson,
        981 F.3d at 1182.
               As he did in the district court, Shamsid-Deen contends that
        § 921(a)(33)(B) affirmative defenses are the kind that negate an ele-
        ment of the § 922(g)(9) offense, specifically the “status” element
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                        27

        (that is, his status as a person who has been convicted of a misde-
        meanor crime of domestic violence). The government argues that
        § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II) does not negate an element of § 922(g)(9) be-
        cause affirmative defenses that “negative guilt by cancelling out the
        existence of some required element of the crime” typically include
        “certain kinds of mistake of fact, mistake of law, intoxication, or
        insanity,” which “are properly viewed as proof that the defendant
        did not have the mental state required for the crime charged.” See
        1 W.R. LaFave, Substantive Criminal Law § 1.8(c), at 107 (3d ed.
        2018).
               Only one federal appellate court has addressed this exact
        question, and it too relied on LaFave’s black-letter law. See
        Hartsock, 347 F.3d at 8. On its way to concluding that a
        § 921(a)(33)(B)(i) defense did not negate, contradict, or tend to dis-
        prove an element of § 922(g)(9), the First Circuit explained:
              [T]he label “affirmative defense” applies to different
              categories of defenses. See 1 LaFave, Substantive
              Criminal Law, § 1.8(c) (1986). One such category is
              defenses that “negative guilt by cancelling out the ex-
              istence of some required element of the crime.” Id.
              Other categories of affirmative defenses, such as du-
              ress, do not negate an element of the crime, but in-
              stead provide a justification sufficient to overcome or
              mitigate criminal liability. Id. Yet a third type of af-
              firmative defense is based on individual exceptions to
              substantive crimes. Id.; see [United States v.] Bar-
              telho, 71 F.3d [436,] 440 [(1st Cir. 1995)] (finding that
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        28                     Opinion of the Court                20-11877

              a statutory exception created an affirmative defense).
              Affirmative defenses in this third category are typified
              by “an exception or proviso setting forth the defense.”
              LaFave, supra, § 1.8(c). It is in this third category of
              affirmative defenses that § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(I) properly
              belongs.
        Hartsock, 347 F.3d at 8.
                As the LaFave treatise recognizes, affirmative defenses that
        negate elements of offenses are typically ones that negate a defend-
        ant’s criminal state of mind. See 1 LaFave, Substantive Criminal
        Law, § 1.8(c); Dixon, 548 U.S. at 7 (“Like the defense of necessity,
        the defense of duress does not negate a defendant’s criminal state
        of mind when the applicable offense requires a defendant to have
        acted knowingly or willfully; instead, it allows the defendant to
        avoid liability because coercive conditions or necessity negates a
        conclusion of guilt even though the necessary mens rea was pre-
        sent.”) (cleaned up). Those kinds of defenses are of a different cat-
        egory than defenses that appear as statutory exceptions or provisos.
        See Hartsock, 347 F.3d at 8; 1 LaFave, Substantive Criminal Law, §
        1.8(c). Section 921(a)(33)(B) does not negate a domestic violence
        misdemeanant’s criminal state of mind; it merely creates excep-
        tions to the default rule that an offense meeting the elements in
        § 921(a)(33)(A) qualifies as a misdemeanor crime of domestic vio-
        lence. See 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(B). And it does so in a separate
        subsection from the one that lists the elements of that crime. See
        id.
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        20-11877               Opinion of the Court                       29

                Section 921(a)(33)(B) “allows the defendant” who did not
        knowingly and intelligently waive his right to a jury trial “to avoid
        liability because” the absence of a valid waiver “negates a conclu-
        sion of guilt even though the necessary mens rea” for the misde-
        meanor crime of domestic violence “was present.” See Dixon, 548
        U.S. at 7 (quotation marks and alteration omitted). But it doesn’t
        negate or tend to disprove that he committed that crime. It doesn’t
        invalidate his conviction. It just allows him to avoid having that
        conviction used as a qualifying predicate for a § 922(g)(9) charge.
              In that way, it’s similar to how this Court treats “question[s]
        about the validity of the prior convictions used to enhance [a] sen-
        tence under 18 U.S.C. § 924(e).” See Jackson, 57 F.3d at 1016. In
        Jackson, we explained:
              Under § 924(e), the burden is properly placed on the
              defendant raising the challenge to show the constitu-
              tional invalidity of the prior convictions. Any given
              conviction might suffer any of a myriad of constitu-
              tional defects. It would approach the absurd to re-
              quire the government to undertake to prove guilt all
              over again in every predicate conviction. Instead, the
              government’s burden is properly met when it intro-
              duces evidence that there are at least three prior vio-
              lent felony convictions. The defendant must then
              point out any defects in a particular prior conviction.
        57 F.3d at 1016 (alterations adopted) (emphasis added) (quoting
        United States v. Ruo, 943 F.2d 1274, 1276 (11th Cir. 1991)). Of
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        30                         Opinion of the Court                        20-11877

        course, Jackson dealt with a different § 921(a) exception and needed
        to decide only whether that exception was an affirmative defense
        that required the defendant to bear the burden of production, so
        our statement about the reasonableness — or rather, the absurdity
        — of requiring the government to bear the burden of persuasion is
        dicta. See 57 F.3d at 1017 (holding that the defendant bears the bur-
        den of production on a § 921(a)(20) defense).
                But dicta can be persuasive, and it is here. Jackson’s reason-
        ing about who bears the burden of production on a § 921(a)(20) de-
        fense applies just as strongly to determining who bears the burden
        of persuasion on a § 921(a)(33)(B) defense, including the
        (B)(i)(II)(bb) defense at issue in this case. We agree with the district
        court that the § 921(a)(33)(B) defenses do not negate an element of
        the § 922(g)(9) crime.
               So Shamsid-Deen bears the burden of persuasion, as well as
        the burden of production, on the § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) excep-
        tion.1

        1 In our Laroche opinion we made this statement: “Where affirmative de-
        fenses are created through statutory exceptions, the ultimate burden of per-
        suasion remains with the prosecution, but the defendant has the burden of
        going forward with sufficient evidence to raise the exception as an issue.” 723
        F.2d at 1543 (emphasis added). But as the district court correctly noted, that
        statement is dicta because we did not actually reach the burden of persuasion
        issue in deciding the Laroche case. We stopped our analysis at the burden of
        production stage. See id. (“We . . . hold that the antique weapons exception
        [in § 921(a)(3), (16)] is in essence an affirmative defense that must be raised by
        the defendant before the burden shifts to the government to disprove its
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        20-11877                    Opinion of the Court                                 31

         C. The Inapplicability of the § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) Exception

        applicability. Here the defense introduced no evidence that the weapons came
        within the exception; accordingly the government was under no obligation to
        disprove its applicability.”). Because the statement in Laroche was not neces-
        sary to the result in that case, it was dicta. See, e.g., Rambaran v. Sec’y, Dep’t
        of Corr., 821 F.3d 1325, 1333 (11th Cir. 2016) (“[T]he statement is dicta because
        it was not necessary to the result in [the earlier case].”); United States v. Santa,
        236 F.3d 662, 672 n.14 (11th Cir. 2000) (“As the court’s statement in [the earlier
        case] was unnecessary to its decision, it is a dictum and does not control our
        decision in this case.”); United States v. Eggersdorf, 126 F.3d 1318, 1322 n.4
        (11th Cir. 1997) (“More important, the pertinent language in [the earlier
        case] is dicta –– not necessary to deciding the case then before us.”).
        It’s true that we repeated the Laroche dicta in our Johnson opinion. Johnson,
        981 F.3d 1171, 1184 & n.9 (11th Cir. 2020). But the Johnson opinion’s use of
        the Laroche dicta is itself dicta. That’s because we did not decide the Johnson
        case on the burden of persuasion. Instead, as we had in Laroche, in Johnson
        we reached the result based on the burden of production. We explained:
        “Simply put, Johnson never properly raised an affirmative defense under Sec-
        tion 921(a)(33)(B)(ii) because he did not allege any of the conditions set forth
        by that section that would exempt him from having committed a ‘misde-
        meanor crime of domestic violence,’ so the government had no obligation to
        prove that that exception does not apply.” Johnson, 981 F.3d at 1190 n.15.
        The statement about the burden of persuasion we repeated from Laroche
        played no role in Johnson and was dicta in that case, as it had been in Laroche.
        It was, to be sure, twice told dicta, but as we have explained before,
        “twice told dicta is still dicta.” United States v. Maung, 320 F.3d 1305, 1308
        (11th Cir. 2003); see also United States v. Hunter, 172 F.3d 1307, 1310 n.1 (11th
        Cir. 1999) (Carnes, J., concurring) (“[T]hat earlier language is itself dicta inso-
        far as the present issue is concerned . . . . Two layers of dicta cannot do what
        one does not — bind a later panel.”). Nothing in Laroche or Johnson prevents
        us from holding, as we do: the defendant has the burden of persuasion on the
        § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) defense.
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        32                     Opinion of the Court                20-11877

               With the burdens of production and persuasion allocated,
        we can now answer this appeal’s ultimate question: whether
        Shamsid-Deen established that the § 921(a)(33)(B)(i)(II)(bb) excep-
        tion applies to his 2014 Georgia domestic violence battery convic-
        tion and established that he did not “knowingly and intelligently
        waive[] the right to have the case tried by a jury.”
               The district court implicitly concluded that Shamsid-Deen
        carried his burden of production. Although it didn’t explain its rea-
        soning for that conclusion, we agree that by introducing the dou-
        ble-sided form (which explained his right to counsel and his plea
        options on separate sides of the same document) Shamsid-Deen
        met this “minimal burden.” See Kloess, 251 F.3d at 948. The real
        dispute is about whether he carried his burden of persuasion on the
        issue of the lack of a knowing and intelligent jury waiver back in
        2014. Shamsid-Deen and the district court believe he did carry that
        burden, the government believes he did not, and we believe the
        government has the stronger side of the argument.
               The focus of both parties’ arguments is the double-sided
        form that Shamsid-Deen read and signed before he received a
        bench trial and was convicted in the Georgia court. He signed the
        right-to-counsel side of the form acknowledging: “I understand an
        attorney has education and experience concerning . . . how to select
        a jury if I desire a jury trial.” Doc. 70-2 (emphasis added). That
        statement and acknowledgement would have been pointless if
        Shamsid-Deen could not have had a jury trial. Even more directly
        on point, he signed the plea side of the form acknowledging: “I am
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        20-11877                Opinion of the Court                        33

        fully aware that upon a not guilty plea, I have the right to a trial,
        either before a jury or the Court . . . .” Doc. 70-3 (emphasis added).
        Shamsid-Deen pleaded guilty before a state court judge who signed
        a certification finding that “any waiver of rights is done with a full
        understanding of those rights.” Id.
               On the other hand, the plea form did not contain any place
        for Shamsid-Deen to indicate that he wanted to plead not guilty
        and request a jury trial. Instead, the form’s alternative to initialing
        the “Guilty Plea” option was a “Not Guilty Plea” option, which
        stated: “I plead NOT GUILTY to the charge(s) against me and re-
        quest a non jury trial. I knowingly and voluntarily waive (give up)
        my right to a trial before a jury . . . who would hear the evidence
        and law and decide if I am guilty or not guilty. I want my case to
        be heard and decided by the Judge acting without a jury.” Id.
               So the right-to-counsel side of the form told Shamsid-Deen
        that an attorney, if he elected to have one (which he did), would
        know how to select a jury if Shamsid-Deen wanted a jury trial. And
        the fourth sentence from the top of the plea side of the form con-
        tained an acknowledgment that he was fully aware that if he
        pleaded not guilty he had the right to a trial before a jury. Yet the
        same plea form did not contain any space to initial that would have
        let Shamsid-Deen plead not guilty, as he did, without indicating
        that he was waiving his right to a jury trial. The forms alone are
        ambiguous.
              But there is more evidence than just the forms. There is ev-
        idence in the record of the state court bench trial that supports a
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        34                       Opinion of the Court                    20-11877

        conclusion that Shamsid-Deen’s waiver of a jury trial was done
        knowingly and intelligently. Specifically, after hearing from the
        prosecutor that Shamsid-Deen “wishe[d] to plead not guilty . . . and
        proceed with his attorney . . . and have a non-jury trial,” the judge
        who presided over the bench trial asked: “Mr. Shamsid-Deen, is
        that what you want to do?” If for any reason proceeding without
        a jury was not what Shamsid-Deen wanted to do, all he had to do
        was say no. Instead he answered: “Yes, sir.” 2
               The reason Shamsid-Deen wanted to waive a jury is appar-
        ent from the statements his lawyer made to the state court judge
        just before sentencing. After Shamsid-Deen was convicted in the
        state court bench trial, his lawyer argued for a lenient sentence in
        part by explaining to the judge that they (his lawyer had said “we”)
        deliberately chose a bench trial so that they wouldn’t “waste jurors’
        time.” They made that choice to try to avoid Shamsid-Deen get-
        ting a harsher sentence — one that included incarceration — if he
        were found guilty. The experienced counsel referred to that as
        avoiding a “trial tax.” And the strategy worked: the trial tax was
        avoided. Although Shamsid-Deen was sentenced to 12 months jail
        time, the state court judge, who had not had to spend the extra
        time and go to the additional trouble of presiding over a jury trial,

        2 The district court viewed Shamsid-Deen’s response as “simply confirm[ing]
        the executed form,” but the bench trial judge didn’t frame his question to
        Shamsid-Deen by reference to the form. The judge didn’t ask Shamsid-Deen
        what the form he had signed said but instead whether he wanted to proceed
        with a bench trial.
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        20-11877                Opinion of the Court                         35

        allowed him to serve all of his sentence on probation, as Shamsid-
        Deen’s lawyer had requested.
                 The district court viewed the jury waiver strategy as the stra-
        tegic choice of the lawyer alone. But waiving a jury trial is a deci-
        sion that must be made by the defendant personally; it is not a tac-
        tical decision that his lawyer can make for him. See, e.g., Winters
        v. Cook, 489 F.2d 174, 179 (5th Cir. 1973) (noting that among the
        “inherently personal fundamental right[s] that . . . can be waived
        only by the defendant and not by his attorney” is the “the right
        to waive trial by jury”); United States v. Spiegel, 604 F.2d 961, 965
        n.9 (5th Cir. 1979) (noting that a lawyer’s ability to waive the right
        to a twelve-person jury “in no way suggests that counsel may
        waive the right to a Jury trial for their clients”); United States v.
        Stewart, 700 F.2d 702, 704 (11th Cir. 1983). We assume, absent ev-
        idence to the contrary, that lawyers fulfill their professional respon-
        sibilities and do not usurp decisions that belong to their clients. Cf.
        Chandler v. United States, 218 F.3d 1305, 1324 (11th Cir. 2000) (en
        banc) (“[G]iven the absence of evidence in the record, we must as-
        sume counsel carried out his professional responsibility and dis-
        cussed mitigation with his client.”). For that reason, we conclude
        that Shamsid-Deen’s lawyer’s statement in court that they deliber-
        ately chose a bench trial reflected a decision Shamsid-Deen made,
        or at least consented to, after advice from his lawyer about the pos-
        sible risks of a jury trial.
               Our conclusion is bolstered by evidence in the record about
        the state court’s general procedures, which rely on lawyers to
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        36                      Opinion of the Court                 20-11877

        advise the clients they represent about choosing a bench or jury
        trial. Under those state court procedures, the default is that a crim-
        inal case is set for a jury trial unless the defendant decides to plead
        guilty or to have a bench trial. That, too, is evidence that Shamsid-
        Deen knowingly and intelligently decided to waive a jury trial.
               We disagree with the district court’s statement that there
        was “no evidence” that Shamsid-Deen understood he had the right
        to a jury trial or that he knowingly and intelligently waived that
        right. There is at least some evidence going both ways, and, if any-
        thing, the evidence showing a knowing and intelligent wavier is
        stronger than that indicating the absence of one.
                When the evidence is unclear or evenly balanced, or the in-
        ferences that can be drawn from it are ambiguous, the party with
        the burden of persuasion loses. Schaffer ex rel. Schaffer v. Weast,
        546 U.S. 49, 56 (2005) (explaining that the term “burden of persua-
        sion” means that the party with the burden “loses if the evidence is
        closely balanced”); Iriele, 977 F.3d at 1177 (noting that a “tie goes
        to the” party who does not bear the burden of persuasion); Beeman
        v. United States, 871 F.3d 1215, 1225 (11th Cir. 2017) (noting that if
        the fact finder “is left uncertain, the party with the burden loses”)
        (quotation marks omitted); Rodriguez, 398 F.3d at 1300; Romine v.
        Head, 253 F.3d 1349, 1357 (11th Cir. 2001) (“Where, as here, the
        evidence does not clearly explain what happened, . . . the party with
        the burden loses.”). The burden of persuasion matters, and, as we
        have explained, the party burdened with the burden is Shamsid-
        Deen.
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        20-11877              Opinion of the Court                     37

                                 III. Conclusion
              We reverse the district court’s order granting Shamsid-
        Deen’s motion to suppress evidence of his 2014 conviction for mis-
        demeanor battery under the Georgia Family Violence Act, and we
        remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opin-
        ion.
              REVERSED AND REMANDED.
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        20-11877              PRYOR, J., Concurring                     1

        JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judge, Concurring in the judgment:
              I concur in the result only.