US v. Reese, No. 10-2030

Firearm Possession Indictment Dismissal Reversed

In US v. Reese, No. 10-2030, a prosecution for possessing firearms while subject to a domestic protection order, the court reversed the dismissal of the indictment where 1) the prosecution of defendant under 18 U.S.C. section 922(g)(8) is consistent with the government's intended purpose in implementing that statute; and 2) the district court erred in focusing on the underlying protective order issued by the Hawaii Family Court instead of the challenged federal statute.

As the court wrote:  "This appeal presents a single issue, whether the district court erred in granting defendant James Reese's motion to dismiss an indictment which charged Reese with three counts of possessing firearms while subject to a domestic protection order, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8). Reese successfully raised an as-applied challenge to the indictment on the grounds that § 922(g)(8) violated his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms."

Related Resources

• Read the Tenth Circuit's Decision in US v. Reese, No. 10-2030