United States v. Turner

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Defendant pled guilty to one count of possession of a firearm and ammunition by an unlawful drug user in violation of 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3) and 924(a)(2). On appeal, defendant challenged the denial of his motion to dismiss because 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(3) was unconstitutionally vague as applied to the facts of his case. The court concluded that a trial on the merits was needed to decide defendant's pretrial motion to dismiss where the parties dispute what evidence the district court could consider in its ruling. In this case, the district court could not rule on defendant's as applied constitutional challenge without resolving factual issues related to his alleged offense, such as the extent of his drug use, and therefore the district court should have deferred ruling until trial. The court concluded that this premature ruling prejudiced defendant's ability to obtain appellate review of his constitutional challenge, for he conditionally pled guilty under his mistaken assumption that he could "have an appellate court review an adverse determination" of his motion to dismiss. The court explained that had the district court informed defendant that it would have to defer a final ruling on his motion, defendant could have moved to vacate his guilty plea and proceeded to trial on the original charges. Accordingly, the court reversed and remanded. View "United States v. Turner" on Justia Law