For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 19

How Does Rehaif's New Requirement of
Proving the Defendant Had Knowledge of
Belonging to a Category of People Prohibited
from Possessing a Gun Affect Cases on
Appeal?
The other primary legal issue that the Nasir court
that the government
addressed was the new requirement under § 922(g)
imposed by Rehaif v. United States20
prove the defendant had knowledge of status. Prior to
Rehaif, no proof of knowledge of status was required.
Rehaif was issued after Nasir had filed his opening brief
on appeal and he raised a Rehaif argument through
supplemental briefing. Because the issue had not been
raised below, the Third Circuit applied plain error
review through the four-step test of United States v.
Olano21,22
focusing primarily on steps three (whether
the error affected " the outcome of the district court
proceedings " ) and four (whether the error " seriously
affected the fairness, integrity or public reputation of
judicial proceedings " ).
The government argued that even if the record was
devoid of proof on the knowledge-of-status element,
that absence of proof was not plain error because
the court could conclude that Nasir knew he was a
felon.23
to the court, a shift that could not survive constitutional
scrutiny under the Due Process Clause and the Sixth
Amendment. " [W]e are faced here with a case in which
there is no evidence at all on an essential element of
the felon-in-possession charge, and yet the case was
submitted to the jury and there was a conviction. " 25
The court rejected the government's argument that
a stipulation under Old Chief v. United States26
was
sufficient to overcome plain error review on the grounds
that by acknowledging a conviction in an Old Chief
stipulation, the defendant also acknowledged he knew
of his status as a felon. Plain error was found and Nasir's
conviction on § 922(g) was vacated and remanded for
a new trial on the § 922(g) charge at the government's
discretion.27
What this ruling means for future cases is that the
nature of the trial record is key as to whether plain
error can be found and a § 922(g) conviction vacated

For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2

For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 1
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 2
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 3
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 4
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 5
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 6
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 7
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 8
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 9
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 10
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 11
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 12
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 13
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 14
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 15
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 16
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 17
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 18
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 19
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 20
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 21
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 22
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 23
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 24
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 25
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 26
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 27
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 28
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 29
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 30
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 31
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 32
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 33
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 34
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 35
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 36
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 37
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For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 39
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 40
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 41
For the Defense - Vol. 6, Issue 2 - 42
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