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I have been trying for a long time to find out if the "first offender
pardon" as provided by Louisiana La. Const. Art. 4 Section 5 (E) (1)
qualifies as a pardon under 18 U.S.C. 921 (a) (20). The problem is
that the federal statute doesn't define pardon and there is no case
law from the 5th circuit court of appeals addressing the first
offender pardon where it does not expressly except the right to
possess a firearm. United States v. Richardson came close but he did
not wait the 10 years required by RS 14:95.1. It was noted on his
pardon that he may not possess firearms for 10 years from date of
completion of sentence and thus he triggered the unless clause of 921
(a) (20). Theoretically the first offender pardon should preclude a
felon from prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (1) as long as the
pardon doesn't expressly prohibit possession of a firearm. Louisiana
law RS 14:95.1 restricts felons from owning firearms for a period of
10 years. Once the 10 year waiting period has expired then the felon
is no longer prohibited from possessing a firearm. See U.S. v.
Dupaquier, 74 F.3d 615 (5th Cir. 1996). Anyway noone seems to know if
the first offender pardon qualifies as a pardon under 921 (a) (20) so
I would like to know if I could sue the United States Attorney to
force this issue into litigtion. Assuming that the United States
Attorney would prosecute a felon for possessing a firearm even if the
felon has a first offender pardon that does not except the right to
possess firearms, my law suite would challenge the Attorney on the
grounds that the first offender pardon precludes prosecution under 922
(g) (1). Is this within the realm of possibitly? I guess ultimatlely I
would want it to go to the fifth circuit and create a case law.
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Kristan,
You want to sue the US AG to determine whether a "pardoned first
offender" from Louisiana may possess a firearm. You believe that this
question has not been answered by either the court or the legislature. You
ask for advice.
The obvious place to start is to find an attorney if you plan to pursue
this via the courts. It's also possible to pursue this via the legislature
by creating a law that addresses this issue. Either of these courses may be
expensive.
Assuming you decide to go to court you need to find someone who can sue
( a pardoned offender) who will help your side gain the ruling that you
want. You'll also need bags of money to fund this.
Good luck,
Dave M.
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| Kristan,
|| You want to sue the US AG to determine whether a "pardoned first
| offender" from Louisiana may possess a firearm. You believe that this
| question has not been answered by either the court or the legislature. You
| ask for advice.
| The obvious place to start is to find an attorney if you plan to pursue
| this via the courts. It's also possible to pursue this via the legislature
| by creating a law that addresses this issue. Either of these courses may
be
| expensive.
| Assuming you decide to go to court you need to find someone who can sue
| ( a pardoned offender) who will help your side gain the ruling that you
| want. You'll also need bags of money to fund this.
|| Good luck,
| Dave M.
Been decades but a pardon granted by a state governor (in this case also
Louisiana) carries no weight with the feds. We had an employee that was
granted a pardon by a Louisiana governor. He purchased a 410 shot gun for
his son as a Christmas present. Did the registration and back ground check
as required and was very candid in his statement of his conviction, jail
time and pardon. Years later (min '80s) the gun dealer closed his shop and
the records were reviewed by the feds. Took us near three weeks to get him
out of jail and more months to get the matter cleared.
This with some serious heavy weight legal and political help.
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On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:40:11 -0400, "NotMe" <me@privacy.net> wrote:
Been decades but a pardon granted by a state governor (in this case also
Louisiana) carries no weight with the feds. We had an employee that was
granted a pardon by a Louisiana governor. He purchased a 410 shot gun for
his son as a Christmas present. Did the registration and back ground check
as required and was very candid in his statement of his conviction, jail
time and pardon. Years later (min '80s) the gun dealer closed his shop and
the records were reviewed by the feds. Took us near three weeks to get him
out of jail and more months to get the matter cleared.
This with some serious heavy weight legal and political help.
I researched this issue a few years ago, and, IIRC, a state pardon
should qualify, unless the terms of the pardon exclude reinstatement
of eligibility to possess.
Daniel Reitman
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On Apr 1, 11:45=A0am, kristinvando...@yahoo.com wrote:
I have been trying for a long time to find out if the "first offender
pardon" as provided by Louisiana La. Const. =A0Art. 4 Section 5 (E) (1)
qualifies as a pardon under 18 U.S.C. 921 (a) (20). The problem is
that the federal statute doesn't define pardon and there is no case
law from the 5th circuit court of appeals addressing the first
offender pardon where it does not expressly except the right to
possess a firearm. =A0United States v. Richardson came close but he did
not wait the 10 years required by RS 14:95.1. It was noted on his
pardon that he may not possess firearms for 10 years from date of
completion of sentence and thus he triggered the unless clause of 921
(a) (20). Theoretically the first offender pardon should preclude a
felon from prosecution under 18 U.S.C. 922 (g) (1) as long as the
pardon doesn't expressly prohibit possession of a firearm. =A0Louisiana
law RS 14:95.1 restricts felons from owning firearms for a period of
10 years. Once the 10 year waiting period has expired then the felon
is no longer prohibited from possessing a firearm. See U.S. v.
Dupaquier, 74 F.3d 615 (5th Cir. 1996). Anyway noone seems to know if
the first offender pardon qualifies as a pardon under 921 (a) (20) so
I would like to know if I could sue the United States Attorney to
force this issue into litigtion. =A0Assuming that the United States
Attorney would prosecute a felon for possessing a firearm even if the
felon has a first offender pardon that does not except the right to
possess firearms, =A0my law suite would challenge the Attorney on the
grounds that the first offender pardon precludes prosecution under 922
(g) (1). Is this within the realm of possibitly? I guess ultimatlely I
would want it to go to the fifth circuit and create a case law.
Well I guess I should have explained that the first offender pardon as
provided by Louisiana is not an unconditional pardon. It does not
restore inocense. It also does not restore the right to sit on a jury
and a person with such a pardon is still subject to the 10 year
statutory restriction on possession of a firearm outlined in RS
14:95.1. An unconditional pardon would present no questions as far as
qualifying under 18 U.S.C. 921 (a) (20). However since 18 U.S.C =A7
921(a)(20) does not define pardon, then the question is what pardons
qualify other than an unconditional pardon. There is no case law in
regard to pardons from the 5th circcuit court of appeals nor any other
circuit. United States v. Richardson 168 F.3d 836 fifth circuit 1999
came close but Richardson's first offender pardon restricted his right
to possess firearms for 10 years and that 10 year statute of
limitation had not expired when he was found in possession of a
firearm. Since the pardon was restricted they apparently they did not
need to determine if it qualified under 18 U.S.C. 921 (a) (20).
Having said all that. A first offender who is convicted in Louisiana
also has civil rights restored under Article, 1 Section, 20 of the
Louisiana constitution in addition to the first offender pardon. In
fact, it does not matter how many offenses a person commits in
Louisiana to have full rights of citizenship restored under the
Louisiana constitution. Under United States v. Dupaquier, that
restoration does qualify under 18 U.S.C. 921 (a) (20). So any
offender convicted in Louisiana who has completed their sentence and
waits the 10 years can possess a firearm under federal law. I just
want to know if the first offender pardon would stand all by itself in
the event that Louisiana changed the constitution.
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On Apr 10, 7:09=A0am, "Daniel R. Reitman" <dreit...@spiritone.com>
wrote:
On Mon, 07 Apr 2008 07:40:11 -0400, "NotMe" <m...@privacy.net> wrote:
I researched this issue a few years ago, and, IIRC, a state pardon
should qualify, unless the terms of the pardon exclude reinstatement
of eligibility to possess.
=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =
=A0 =A0 Daniel Reitman
Can you give some details about what kind of state pardon you
researched? Was it conditional or unconditition?
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On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 07:33:12 -0400, kristinvandoran@yahoo.com wrote:
Can you give some details about what kind of state pardon you
researched? Was it conditional or unconditition?
We were researching what we needed to request through the state
clemency process.
Daniel Reitman
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