UNITED STATES v. HARRIS (2020)

Order

Kendal Harris pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm, despite felony convictions that made it unlawful for him to do so. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). While this case was pending on appeal, the Supreme Court held in Rehaif v. United States, ––– U.S. ––––, 139 S. Ct. 2191, 204 L.Ed.2d 594 (2019), that knowledge of the disqualifying felony conviction is an element of the offense defined by § 922(g)(1). Harris asks us to vacate his guilty plea, because before the judge accepted that plea he did not inform him that, at a trial, the prosecution would need to prove that he knew that a prior conviction made it unlawful for him to possess firearms.

Harris has not argued, however, that he was unaware of his legal disability, and such an argument would not be plausible. A disqualifying conviction is one “punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year” (§ 922(g)(1)). Harris has at least two such convictions, and he actually served more than a year in prison for them. He does not contend that he was ignorant of the fact that being sentenced to, and serving, more than a year in prison shows that a sentence exceeding one year was authorized.

Instead Harris argues that the prosecutor must show the absence of prejudice, which should be presumed. This court rejected that argument in United States v. Williams, 946 F.3d 968 (7th Cir. 2020). Williams controls this appeal.

Affirmed