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Sentencing Guidelines

By: Derek Hawkins//September 18, 2018//

Sentencing Guidelines

By: Derek Hawkins//September 18, 2018//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Jimmy L. Thompson

Case No.: 17-2985

Officials: MANION, and KANNE, Circuit Judges

Focus: Sentencing Guidelines

Jimmy Thompson was charged by indictment and pled guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C § 922(g)(1). He admitted he possessed the firearm and initially conceded he was a felon based on his prior conviction of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (“AUUW”), an Illinois state‐law offense. Later, however, he moved to set aside his plea on the basis that the AUUW conviction was invalid and thus, Thompson argued, he should not have been considered a felon. Indeed, this court and the Illinois Supreme Court ruled the AUUW statute unconstitutional before Thompson was charged in this case, Moore v. Madigan, 702 F.3d 933 (7th Cir. 2012); People v. Aguilar, 2 N.E.3d 321 (2013), though Thompson never moved to have the conviction vacated or expunged. The district court, relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Lewis v. United States, 445 U.S. 55 (1980), rejected Thompson’s argument, denied his motion, and sentenced him to sixteen months’ imprisonment.

Thompson reasserts this same argument on appeal—that a conviction for violating a state statute later ruled unconstitutional and void ab initio cannot serve as a predicate offense for purposes of the federal felon in possession statute. In so doing, Thompson is asking us to overturn our decision in United States v. Lee, 72 F.3d 55 (7th Cir. 1995). We decline to do so.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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