Medina v. Whitaker - Misdefelony Loss in DC Circuit

[Knuckle Dragger]

The DC Circuit gave Alan Gura a loss yesterday in a misdefelony case - Medina v. Whitaker. Madina made false statements on a mortgage application in 1990, pled guilty to a single count in 1991 and was sentenced to three years, probation, 60 days home confinement, and a fine.

Fast forward a couple of decades and he's an upstanding member of society, but the DC circuit holds that his felony conviction "removes [him]from the scope of the Second Amendment.

This looks to me to be a good vehicle to take the issue to the Supreme Court. No idea yet if that will happen or if they'll seek en banc review next.

 

[pastera]

The Supreme Court said that laws barring the possession of firearms by convicted felons are presumptively lawful

So they presume to ignore everything and just say guns bad...

 

[Rob Boudrie]

What that an actual misdafelony or a gen-u-whine felony?

 

[Chevy 2 65]

The DC Circuit gave Alan Gura a loss yesterday in a misdefelony case - Medina v. Whitaker. Madina made false statements on a mortgage application in 1990, pled guilty to a single count in 1991 and was sentenced to three years, probation, 60 days home confinement, and a fine.

Fast forward a couple of decades and he's an upstanding member of society, but the DC circuit holds that his felony conviction "removes [him]from the scope of the Second Amendment.

This looks to me to be a good vehicle to take the issue to the Supreme Court. No idea yet if that will happen or if they'll seek en banc review next.

What other right(s) are removed? Not a violet crime. Is because he could've been sentenced, to serve 2 or more years?

 

[Matt_SERE]

He also had a crime of filling out a Wyoming residential hunting permit application while a nonresident, twice.

In 1990, Medina committed a felony. He grossly misrepresented his income on a mortgage finance application to qualify for a $30,000 loan from the First Federal Bank of California. He was referred for criminal prosecution by the bank. He cooperated with the investigation, confessed to his crime, and pled guilty in 1991 to a felony count of making a false statement to a lending institution in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1014. Although his crime was punishable by up to thirty years in prison, Medina was sentenced to only three years of probation, home detention for sixty days, and a fine. At the recommendation of the U.S. Attorney, the U.S. Probation Officer, and members of the community, Medina’s probation was terminated after only one year.

ETA:

Misdafelony is pretty much a MA concept. I understand Gura's desire to create a federal precedent, but there would be a better chance of a win with a case where the crime in question was a misdemeanor by all definitions except the one in 18USC922.

Rob I agree. I dropped a section some how. Would love to see this case move forward. Thanks KD for the thread!

The Second Amendment was ratified in 1791, so we look to the public understanding of the right at that time to determine if a convicted felon would fall outside the scope of its protection.


As a starting point, we consider felony crime as it would have been understood at the time of the Founding. In 1769, William Blackstone defined felony as "an offense which occasions a total forfeiture of either lands, or goods, or both, at the common law, and to which capital or other punishment may be superadded, according to the degree of guilt." 4 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England *95 (Harper ed. 1854). Felonies were so connected with capital punishment that it was "hard to separate them." Id. at *98. Felony crimes in England at the time included crimes of violence, such as murder and rape, but also included non-violent offenses that we would recognize as felonies today, such as counterfeiting currency, embezzlement, and desertion from the army. Id. at *90-103. Capital punishment for felonies was "ubiquit[ous]" in the late Eighteenth Century and was "the standard penalty for all serious crimes." See Baze v. Rees, 553 U.S. 35, 94 (2008) (Thomas, J., concurring in the judgment) (citing Stuart Banner, The Death Penalty: An American History 23 (2002)). For example, at the time of the Second Amendment’s ratification, nonviolent crimes such as forgery and horse theft were capital offenses. E.g., Banner, supra, at 18 (describing the escape attempts of men condemned to die for forgery and horse theft in Georgia between 1790 and 1805).

 

[Rob Boudrie]

In 1990, Medina committed a felony.

Misdafelony is pretty much a MA concept. I understand Gura's desire to create a federal precedent, but there would be a better chance of a win with a case where the crime in question was a misdemeanor by all definitions except the one in 18USC922.

 

[Matt_SERE]

ETA: Added to my above post for easier reading.

 

[Bonesinium]

You aren’t a PP for antitrust and unfair trade crimes. You shouldn’t be one for this sort of thing either. Looking at someone the wrong way can make you a felony these days. It’s ridiculous.

 

[weekendracer]

What that an actual misdafelony or a gen-u-whine felony?

Genuine felony, however a non-violent white collar crime.

 

[terraformer]

You aren’t a PP for antitrust and unfair trade crimes. You shouldn’t be one for this sort of thing either. Looking at someone the wrong way can make you a felony these days. It’s ridiculous.

Which, without even reading the decision, I suspect was Alan's primary argument. He has won a lot of cases on that basis that financial crimes don't implicate §922(g).

 

[nstassel]

What other right(s) are removed? Not a violet crime. Is because he could've been sentenced, to serve 2 or more years?

Remember the key is MORE than 2 years.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

Which, without even reading the decision, I suspect was Alan's primary argument. He has won a lot of cases on that basis that financial crimes don't implicate §922(g).

I think it's just anti trust, restraint of trade and trade practice - not financial crimes like pulling a Madoff.