Posted On: February 24, 2009
FEDERAL CRIMINAL LAW: MISDEMEANANT IN POSSESSION OF A GUN?
Persons convicted of "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" are prohibited from possessing firearms. It covers misdemeanor batter when victim was in relationship specified in 18 U.S.C. section 921(a)(33)(A).
Although the domestic relationship must be established beyond a reasonable doubt in the firearms possession prosecution, it need not be a defining element of the predicate misdemeanor offense.
In other words, the underlying misdemeanor need not have been charged as a crime of domestic violence, as long as the government proves at the firearm possession trial that in fact it was.
United States v. Hayes (U.S. Sup. Ct., 2/24/09, 07-608) 09 C.D.O.S. 2199
