Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta
John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. U.S.
CSX Transportation v. Georgia State Board of Equalization
Stoneridge v. Scientific-Atlanta
John R. Sand & Gravel Co. v. U.S.
CSX Transportation v. Georgia State Board of Equalization
On appeal from the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. Logan appealed to the seventh circuit court of appeals. The seventh circuit ruled that the district court was right: It retained his sentence.
Here's an unsurprising fact: convicted criminals, namely felons, are not allowed to have guns.
Mr. Logan, a felon, got caught with a gun. He was also convicted of a state misdemeanor - three times.
To understand this case, you need to know the difference between felons and non-felons. Felons are criminals whose crimes can put them in prison for more than a year. Non-felons (as in everyone who has pleaded guilty to a speeding ticket) are criminals whose crimes can put them in prison for less than a year or not at all. Those crimes are classified as misdemeanors. However, not all crimes that punish criminals with more than a year in prison are felonies. States (like Wisconsin) may decide that they want to call a crime a misdemeanor, even when the state intends to put the convicted person in prison for more than a year.
Usually, felons are prevented from voting in elections, running for a political office, and serving on a jury. In other words, felons lose their civil rights and non-felons don't.
Congress takes a very dim view of felons who possess guns. It has established a 10 year minimum sentence for that crime (18 U. S. C. §924(a)(2)). Congress also decided that if one had been convicted of 3 violent felonies, then the minimum sentence for the crime is 15 years. Congress even decided that violent misdemeanor convictions count when the person could be sentenced to over 2 years in prison for the misdemeanor.
But, Congress did have some mercy on those who had thier civil rights "restored." Those with restored civil rights do not have to go to prison for 15 years - only 10. Mr. Logan was convicted of misdemeanors, so he never had his civil rights taken away. He thought that he should fall under this execption.
The Supreme Court disagreed - the statute says "restored." Restored means returned. There is a token of forgiveness from the government. In contrast, Mr. Logan was unforgiven. His misdemeanors didn't take away his civil rights, thus, he didn't have them restored.
Also, there wasn't any evidenece that Congress didn't mean for this to be the result. It passed a later law that did exaclty the same thing to people convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. So, despite his protest that the result is unjust, Mr. Logan's sentence is 15 years in prison.