Latest Case: United States v. Hobbs (Criminal Law)

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United States v. Hobbs

Docket: 19-3343

Opinion Date: March 20, 2020

Judge: Larsen

Areas of Law: Criminal Law

Hobbs pleaded guilty to violating 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), which forbids felons to possess firearms. The indictment listed three predicate felonies: Assault on a Peace Officer, Attempted Felonious Assault, and Aggravated Robbery with Firearm Specification. Hobbs had served a six-year sentence for the aggravated robbery conviction. The district court determined that Hobbs was an armed career criminal under 18 U.S.C. 924(e) and sentenced him to the statutory minimum, 15 years’ imprisonment. After Hobbs filed his appeal, the Supreme Court decided Rehaif (2019), which held that to obtain a conviction under section 922(g), “the Government must prove both that the defendant knew he possessed a firearm and that he knew he belonged to the relevant category of persons barred from possessing a firearm.” Hobbs’s indictment did not expressly allege the knowledge element and the district court did not advise him of it when taking his guilty plea. The Sixth Circuit affirmed the conviction and sentence, rejecting arguments that the indictment was deficient and that the plea was not knowing and voluntary. Hobbs was unable to show a reasonable probability that he would not have entered his plea if he had been told of section 922(g)’s knowledge-of-status requirement.