Keshia Cherie Ashford Dixon v. United States (548 U.S. 1)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 22, 2006 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 548 U.S. 1 · 126 S. Ct. 2437
- Decided
- June 22, 2006
- Term
- October Term 2005
- Vote
- 7–2
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. In January 2003, petitioner Keshia Dixon purchased multiple firearms at two gun shows, during the course of which she provided an incorrect address and falsely stated that she was not under indictment for a felony. As a result of these illegal acts, petitioner was indicted and convicted on one count of receiving a firearm while under indictment in violation of 18 U. S. C. § 922(n) and eight counts of making false statements in connection with the acquisition of a firearm in violation of § 922(a)(6). At trial, petitioner admitted that she knew she was under indictment when she made the purchases and that she knew doing so was a crime; her defense was that she acted under duress because her boyfriend threatened to kill her or hurt her daughters if she did not buy the guns for him. Petitioner contends that the trial judge’s instructions to the jury erroneously required her to prove duress by a preponderance of the evidence instead of requiring the Government to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she did not act under duress. The Court of Appeals rejected petitioner’s contention, 413 F. 3d 520 (CA5 2005); given contrary treatment of the issue by other federal courts, we granted certiorari, 546 U. S. 1135 (2006). I At trial, in her request for jury instructions on her defense of duress, petitioner contended that she “should…
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