United States v. Penn, No. 19-10168 (5th Cir. 2020)
Annotate this Case
The Fifth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm. The court held that defendant failed to present sufficient evidence on the fifth element of his justification defense and the district court properly refused to instruct the jury on the defense. Furthermore, even if the district court erred by excluding evidence related to the defense, the error was harmless.
However, the court reversed the district court's restitution order, holding that the restitution imposed as a condition of supervised release can compensate only for losses caused by the specific conduct that is the basis for the offense of conviction. Therefore, even if the district court intended to order restitution as a condition of supervised release, the district court lacked authority to do so. Finally, the court held that precedent foreclosed defendant's contention that 18 U.S.C. 922(g), as construed, is unconstitutional.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.