United States v. Eugene Lufman

KILEY, Circuit Judge.

Defendant Eugene Lufman appeals from his conviction by a jury for violation of 18 U.S.C. App. § 1202(a) which makes it unlawful for a convicted felon to possess a firearm.

During the trial in the instant case, Lufman filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing that a 1938 conviction, which the government asserted as proof of his status as a convicted felon under § 1202(a), was constitutionally void. He argued that in the 1938 proceeding he had been denied his Sixth Amendment right to counsel, relying on Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799…