[DV_listserv] Good News--US Supreme Court!

[Domestic Violence issues]

Justice Sotomayor delivered the unanimous decision of the Court in this opinion which reverses the holding of the Sixth Circuit.

United States v. Castleman, 12-1371.  Under 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(9), it is a crime for any person convicted of a "misde­meanor crime of domestic violence" to possess a firearm. The phrase "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence" is defined to include any federal, state, or tribal misde­meanor offense, committed by a person with a specified domestic relationship to the victim, that "has, as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon."  Id. §921(a)(33)(A) (emphasis added).

The Court unanimously held that respondent's Tennessee conviction for mis­demeanor domestic assault by intentionally or know­ingly causing bodily injury to the mother of his child qualifies as a conviction for a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence."  The Court reasoned that §921(a)(33)(A) incorporates the common law definition of "force," which is mere offensive touching.  The Court therefore reversed the Sixth Circuit, which had held that Johnson v. United States, 559 U.S. 133 (2010), dictates that "violent force" is required.

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinions.aspx


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