Gary Sherwood Small v. United States (544 U.S. 385)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 26, 2005 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 544 U.S. 385 · 125 S. Ct. 1752
- Decided
- April 26, 2005
- Term
- October Term 2004
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Breyer
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Breyer delivered the opinion of the Court. The United States Criminal Code makes it “unlawful for any person . .. who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year . . . to . . . possess . . . any firearm.” 18 U. S. C. § 922(g)(1) (emphasis added). The question before us focuses upon the words “convicted in any court.” Does this phrase apply only to convictions entered in any domestic court or to foreign convictions as well? We hold that the phrase encompasses only domestic, not foreign, convictions. I In 1994 petitioner, Gary Small, was convicted in a Japanese court of having tried to smuggle several pistols, a rifle, and ammunition into Japan. Small was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. 183 F. Supp. 2d 755, 757, n. 3 (WD Pa. 2002). After his release, Small returned to the United States, where he bought a gun from a Pennsylvania gun dealer. Federal authorities subsequently charged Small under the “unlawful gun possession” statute here at issue. 333 F. 3d 425, 426 (CA3 2003). Small pleaded guilty while reserving the right to challenge his conviction on the ground that his earlier conviction, being a foreign conviction, fell outside the scope of the illegal gun possession statute. The Federal District Court rejected Small’s argument, as did the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. 183 F. Supp. 2d, at 759;…
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