Opinion
CRIMINAL ACTION NO. 15-10052-RGS
11-18-2020
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. LUIS LOPEZ
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO VACATE CONVICTION
Defendant Luis Lopez pled guilty on October 11, 2016, to being a felon in possession of a firearm pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). On January 12, 2017, he was sentenced by the court to 180 months of imprisonment followed by 36 months of supervised release. As the indictment was returned and the plea taken prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), neither the indictment nor the district court in the plea colloquy explicitly informed Lopez that scienter is an essential element of the offense; specifically that the government was required to prove that, at the time of the offense, he knew that he belonged to the category of persons (convicted felons) who are prohibited from possessing firearms and ammunition. He now moves to vacate his conviction based on Rehaif. As the motion is legally, and for all material purposes, factually foreclosed by the First Circuit's plain error analysis in United States v. Burghardt, 939 F.3d 397 (1st Cir. 2019), it is hereby DENIED.
I also rely on Judge Saris's concise and reasoned explanation of the legal framework undergirding Rehaif as she sets it out in United States v. Windley, 2020 WL 4583843 (D. Mass. August 10, 2020). --------
SO ORDERED.
/s/ Richard G. Stearns
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE