U.S. v. MacGregor
| Decision Date | 14 February 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-2011,79-2011 |
| Citation | 617 F.2d 348 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America v. John MacGREGOR, Appellant. . Submitted Under Third Circuit Rule 12(6) |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit |
Joel Harvey Slomsky, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellant; Peter F. Vaira, U. S. Atty., E. D. Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa., Katherine Winfree, William C. Bryson, Mark A. Torres-Gil, Attys. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Ronald G. Cole, Sp. Atty., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Philadelphia, Pa., for appellee.
Before ALDISERT, WEIS and HIGGINBOTHAM, Circuit Judges.
This appeal requires us to decide whether Lewis v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 100 S.Ct. 915, 63 L.Ed.2d 198 (1980), and United States v. Graves, 554 F.2d 65 (3d Cir. 1977) (in banc), permit a conviction under 18 U.S.C. App. § 1202(a)(1) for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon when the predicate conviction was reversed after the firearm conviction. We hold that the conviction will stand and therefore affirm the judgment of the district court.
Appellant MacGregor had been convicted on June 6, 1978, of possessing welfare checks stolen from the United States mails, 18 U.S.C. § 1708, of preparing false corporate income tax returns, 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2), and of conspiracy, 18 U.S.C. § 371, crimes punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. He appealed those convictions to this court. While his appeal was pending, on December 8, 1978, he was arrested for possessing a firearm and on February 21, 1979, he was adjudged guilty of the convicted felon firearm offense. On June 18, 1979, his predicate convictions were reversed by this court. United States v. Wilson, 601 F.2d 95 (3d Cir. 1979).
On appeal of the firearms conviction to this court MacGregor raises an argument akin to that previously presented by Graves to this court and by Lewis to the Supreme Court: that a felon's firearm conviction cannot be permitted to stand if the predicate convictions later prove to be infirm. In Graves and Lewis the predicate convictions were attacked as infirm, but had not in fact been reversed. We conclude that this factual difference does not assist the appellant here because of the sweep of the reasoning that supports the decisions in Graves and Lewis.
Speaking for the court in Graves, Judge Adams concluded, after examining the legislative history of § 1202(a)(1):
It is reasonable to assume, therefore, that Congress expected a convicted felon to undergo the relatively modest inconvenience of a restriction on firearms use until he has obtained a judicial invalidation of his conviction or has secured an executive authorization lifting that restriction.
The Lewis Court sustained the philosophy of our court's majority view 1 in Graves and stated:
The statutory language (of § 1202(a)(1)) is sweeping, and its plain meaning is that the fact of a felony conviction imposes a firearm disability until the conviction is vacated or the felon is relieved of his disability by some affirmative action, such as a qualifying pardon or a consent from the Secretary of the Treasury.
. . . No exception, however, is made for a person whose...
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U.S. v. Stine
...before obtaining a firearm " Id. at 64, 100 S.Ct. at 920 (emphasis in original). This court extended the rule in United States v. MacGregor, 617 F.2d 348 (3d Cir. 1980), where we held that a conviction under 18 U.S.C.App. § 1202(a)(1) could be upheld on collateral attack even where the pred......
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U.S. v. Woods, 82-1683
...Sec. 1202 and a person can be prosecuted under the section even while appeal on his predicate conviction is pending. United States v. McGregor, 617 F.2d 348 (3rd Cir.1980) (upholding a conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon despite fact that the predicate conviction was......
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Bohannan v. State
...of a firearm indictment); State v. Heald , 382 A.2d 290, 294-95 (Me. 1978) (predicate felony conviction on appeal); United States v. MacGregor , 617 F.2d 348 (3rd Cir. 1980) (predicate felony convictions were on appeal and ultimately reversed); Berg v. State , 711 P.2d 553, 554 (Alaska Ct. ......
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Rice v. U.S., Dept. of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
...Similarly, Rice's argument that his federal conviction for violation of section 922(g)(1) is a nullity fails. See United States v. MacGregor, 617 F.2d 348 (3d Cir.1980) (affirming a conviction for possession of a firearm where the predicate federal convictions were reversed on appeal after ......