United States v. Jay Thomas Knowles

MERRITT, Circuit Judge.

Any person who has been convicted of a “felony” is prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm. 18 U.S.C. app. § 1202(a)(1) (1982). Defendant Jay Thomas Knowles is charged with two counts of violating this statute. He was convicted in Tennessee of petit larceny and receiving stolen property valued under two hundred dollars. Although the Tennessee statutes permit a maximum sentence of five years in the penitentiary for each offense, the defendant actually received for each offense a sentence of eleven months and twenty-nine days in the county jail. The question…