As matter of first impression, Second Circuit rules that federal statute prohibiting possession of firearms by convicted felon does not include foreign convictions
In 2001, authorities arrested defendant Ingram in a Plattsburgh, New York, hotel, suspecting that he had entered the U.S. illegally from Canada. The officers later found a large number of firearms in Ingram's hotel room. The government charged him with several offenses, including the export of defense articles designated on the U.S. Munitions List, and being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(1).
As for the felony, Canadian authorities had convicted Ingram in 1996 for violating Section 85(1)(a) of the Canadian Criminal Code for using a firearm in the commission of an indictable offense. The statute provides for a maximum imprisonment of 14 years.
The district court denied Ingram's motion to dismiss the felon-in-possession count even though the predicate conviction had occurred in Canada. Ingram appealed. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit finds that the statute does not encompass convictions by foreign courts. It reverses the present conviction and remands for re-sentencing on the remaining counts.
First, the Court acknowledges the circuit split on this issue. The Third, Fourth and Sixth Circuits, along with two district courts, have opined that "in any court" includes foreign courts. The Tenth Circuit, however, invoking the rule of lenity, has concluded that the "in any court" language is ambiguous as to whether foreign offenses may serve as predicate convictions under this statute.
Second, to resolve the statutory ambiguity, the Court turns to the Senate Judiciary Committee Report on the Gun Control Act. It strongly suggests that the Congress did not intend foreign convictions to serve as predicate offenses under Section 922(g)(1).
"The Senate Report explained the meaning of the term "felony' as follows: "The definition of the term "felony', as added by the committee is a new provision. It means a Federal crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding 1 year and in the case of State law, an offense determined by the laws of the State to be a felony.' S. Rep. No. 90-1501, at 31 (1968). The Senate Report thus unmistakably contemplated felonies, for purposes of the Gun Control Act, to include only convictions in federal and state courts." [Slip Op. 15]
Moreover, the Conference Report [H.R. Conf. Rep. 90-1956 (1968)] which adopted the House version of the bill, voiced no disagreement with the Senate Report's explicit limitation of such convictions to domestic courts. Even though there may be good arguments for including foreign convictions under Section 922(g)(1), Congress would have to say so expressly.
Citation: United States v. Gayle, 342 F.3d 89 (2d Cir. 2003).
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