Unintended Consequences

By: dmc-admin//February 16, 2009//

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I recently accepted an appointment to represent a defendant charged with misdemeanor battery in a domestic violence context. It was my first such case in many years.

Not much had changed, except for one thing. It is now a violation of federal law to possess a firearm if you have a DV misdemeanor conviction. Being a responsible attorney, I, of course, advised my client that this was one of the consequences, if he were to choose the district attorney’s plea offer.

I doubt that this one piece of information had much to do with his decision not to plead guilty (the case was weak anyway). Nevertheless, I can’t help but wonder how many defendants who otherwise would plead guilty choose not to, as a result of this law.

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