United States v. Terrance Jones

MEMORANDUM

Defendant Terrance Jones appeals the sentence imposed by the district court. We affirm.

The district court correctly held that Jones’s 1989 Colorado conviction for second-degree robbery is a predicate conviction for sentencing purposes under 18 U.S.C. § 924 (e)(1). •

Federal law forbids a 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). If convicted under this statute, an offender who has three violent felony convictions faces an enhanced sentence of at least fifteen years. § 924(e)(1). A violent felony is defined in relevant part as “any crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.” § 924(e)(2)(B). A conviction is not a “crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” if “a person ... has had civil rights restored ... unless ... restoration of civil rights expressly provides that the person may not ... possess ... firearms.” § 921(a)(20).

Colorado restores civil rights automatically when a person has “served out his full term of imprisonment.” Colo. Const, art. VII, § 10. Where restoration is automatic, “[o]ne…