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Firearm conviction reversed

By Randall Hodgkinson

Charles Dedmon (former-ADO) and David Phillips of the Kansas City Federal Public Defender Office won in U.S. v. Hill, No. 07-3034 (10th Cir. January 16, 2008), reversing a Kansas firearm conviction. The question was whether the defendant was ineligible to possess a firearm because of a previous Kansas conviction. After discussing the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines in the aftermath of Apprendi and Gould, the Tenth Circuit concluded that a defendant with Mr. Hill's criminal history could not have been sentenced to more than 11-months and, therefore the previous conviction did not make Mr. Hill ineligible to carry a firearm:

Because it is no longer possible for a defendant to be sentenced to a term greater than the presumptive sentence based on an aggravating factor unless that factor is found beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury, Hill?s maximum sentence was eleven months. Had aggravating factors existed, the prosecution was required to make a motion to seek an upward departure under § 21-4718(b) and any aggravating factor had to be found beyond a reasonable doubt.4 The prosecution did not move for an upward departure and without that predicate step, Hill?s sentence could not be enhanced beyond his presumptive sentence range.

A nice discussion of the Guidelines and the impact of the Apprendi line of cases.

Thanks to David Fruend for the tip.

Full post as published by Kansas Defenders on January 16, 2008 (boomark / email).