Defrance

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 23-2409 D.C. No. Plaintiff - Appellee, 9:21-cr-00029-

DLC-

v.

OPINION

MICHAEL BLAKE DEFRANCE,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Montana Dana L. Christensen, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted September 12, 2024 Seattle, Washington

Filed December 30, 2024

Before: Morgan B. Christen and Jennifer Sung, Circuit Judges, and Jed S. Rakoff, District Judge. *

Opinion by Judge Christen; Concurrence by Judge Christen; Concurrence by Judge Rakoff

* The Honorable Jed S. Rakoff, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. SUMMARY **

Criminal Law

The panel reversed Michael Blake DeFrance’s conviction for violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9), which forbids the possession of firearms by anyone convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence”; vacated his sentence; and remanded. The predicate offense for DeFrance’s § 922(g)(9) indictment was his prior conviction for assaulting his girlfriend in violation of Montana Code…