United States v. Steven Duarte

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 22-50048

Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. 2:20-cr-00387- v. AB-

STEVEN DUARTE, AKA Shorty,

OPINION

Defendant-Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Andre Birotte, Jr., District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted December 4, 2023 Pasadena, California

Filed May 9, 2024

Before: Carlos T. Bea, Milan D. Smith, Jr., and Lawrence VanDyke, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Bea; Dissent by Judge M. Smith, Jr. SUMMARY *

Criminal Law/Second Amendment

Reversing the district court’s judgment, the panel vacated Steven Duarte’s conviction for violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), which makes it a crime for any person to possess a firearm if he has been convicted of an offense punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year. On appeal, Duarte challenged his conviction on Second Amendment grounds, which the panel reviewed de novo rather than for plain error because Duarte had good cause for not raising the claim in the district court…