United States v. Robert Dale Belless

KLEINFELD, Circuit Judge.

Robert Belless was convicted of illegally possessing a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), which makes possession of a firearm illegal for anyone “who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.” He challenges his federal conviction on the grounds that his prior misdemeanor conviction is not within the firearm statute’s definition of a crime of domestic violence, as set out in 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(A), and that the misdemeanor conviction was invalid for the purposes of the federal statute because he pleaded guilty without…