United States v. Fred Nobriga

Fred Nobriga appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment. The indictment charged him with violating 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(9) by possessing a firearm after having been previously convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence,” as defined by 18 U.S.C. § 921 (a)(33)(A)(ii). We reverse the district court’s denial of Nobriga’s motion to dismiss.

I.

Nobriga was indicted in 2003 by a federal grand jury in Hawaii for being a person previously convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” in possession of a fire-arm. Section 921 (a)(33)(A)(ii) defines that term as any misdemeanor that:

The predicate offense at issue was Nobri-ga’s conviction for Abuse of a Family or Household Member (“AFHM”), in violation of section 709-906(1) of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Nobriga had pleaded no contest to AFHM in a Hawaii, state court, and the court found Nobriga guilty “as charged.”

Nobriga moved to dismiss the federal indictment, claiming that his underlying AFHM conviction was not for a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence,” and that 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(9) was therefore inapplicable. The district court held that the Hawaii statute was not…