United States v. Baldemar Gomez

O’SCANNLAIN, Circuit Judge:

May a state statute restore a convicted felon’s civil rights and thus effectively bar prosecution under a federal statute for unlawful possession of a firearm? After analysis of relevant Idaho and federal statutes we conclude the answer is “yes.”

I

Before his arrest in this case, Baldemar Gomez had been convicted in Idaho of five crimes punishable by imprisonment for terms exceeding one year. Over the course of approximately thirteen years, he had been convicted of second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter, resisting an officer, possession of a controlled substance…