United States v. Miller, No. 10-3475 (8th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of possession of a firearm while subject to a court order restraining him from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner and sentenced to 69 months imprisonment. Defendant appealed, arguing that his conviction must be vacated because he was unaware that his possession of a firearm was prohibited and he fell within the limited exception to the maxim that ignorance of the law was no excuse. Defendant also contended that his sentence was unreasonable. The court held that defendant's alleged lack of awareness of the restraining order that prohibited him from possessing a firearm was not reasonable in light of the circumstances. The court also held that defendant's sentence was not substantively unreasonable where the district court was well aware of defendant's arguments regarding mitigating factors and gave them little weight; where the district court did not "commit[] a clear error of judgment by arriving at a sentence that lies outside the limited range of choice dictated by the facts of the case[;]" and where the sentence imposed was not greater than necessary to comply with the provisions of 18 U.S.C. 3553(a). Accordingly, the conviction and sentence were affirmed.
Court Description: Criminal case - Criminal law and sentencing. Defendant's alleged lack of awareness regarding the legality of his possession of firearms was not reasonable in light of the text of a domestic protection order, and he could be convicted of violating 18 U.S.C. sec. 922(g)(8) and 924(a)(2); sentence was not unreasonable.
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