Court takes firearms possession case

[Jahness]

Court takes firearms possession case


The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider the case of a man who successfully challenged firearms possession charges that were linked to alleged domestic violence.

The federal government had asked the justices to step into the case.

In 1994, Randy Edward Hayes pleaded guilty in Marion County, W.Va., to the minor crime of battery following an incident in which his wife was the victim. In 2004, police summoned to Hayes's home in response to a domestic violence 911 call found a Winchester rifle belonging to Hayes. They later discovered that he had possessed at least four other rifles following the 1994 case.

Hayes was indicted on federal charges of possessing firearms following conviction of misdemeanor domestic violence, a reference to the 1994 case in West Virginia.

Last year, Hayes convinced the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., to dismiss the indictment against him.

The appeals court ruled in Hayes' favor because the language of the state law on battery in the 1994 case did not contain specific wording about a domestic relationship between the offender and the victim.

Nine other appeals courts have rejected the interpretation that the appeals court in Richmond adopted, the Justice Department solicitor general said in court papers.

"Congress's objectives of taking guns out of the hands of persons convicted of these crimes would be frustrated in significant measure" if the decision in the Hayes case is allowed to stand, the Justice Department solicitor general said in court papers.

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