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Interstate Travel at Any Time Sufficient Nexus for Federal Gun Conviction

By Shari Allison

U.S. v. Urbano, 2009 WL 1143605 (4/29/09) (Published) - In a felon-in-possession case, evidence that the gun traveled in interstate commerce at some unspecified earlier time is enough to satisfy the Commerce Clause. No other proof of nexus or effect on interstate commerce is necessary. Therefore, the d. ct. correctly refused to instruct the jury that the government had to prove the natural and probable consequences of the defendant's acts were to affect interstate commerce. Finding crack in the defendant's pocket and seeing the defendant throw something over a fence and finding a gun in a pond on the other side of the fence provided sufficient evidence of possession of crack and a firearm respectively. Under the 6th Amendment, preponderance is a high enough standard of proof for judicial fact-finding that doubles the guideline range.continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on May 06, 2009 (boomark / email).