Burnett v. United States

Opinion

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4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE

9 10 KENNETH BURNETT, CASE NO. C20-0947JLR 11 Petitioner, ORDER GRANTING JOINT v. MOTION TO STAY 12 PROCEEDINGS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 13 Respondent. 14

15 On March 8th, 2021, the court ordered Petitioner Kenneth Burnett and Respondent 16 the United States of America to submit briefing on whether the court should stay this case 17 until the Supreme Court of the United States of America has issued a ruling in United 18 States v. Gary, 954 F.3d 194 (4th Cir. 2020), cert. granted, No. 20-444, 2021 WL 77245 19 (U.S. Jan. 8, 2021). (3/8/21 Order (Dkt. # 10).) On March 15, 2021, the parties 20 submitted a joint motion requesting that the court stay further proceedings until the 21 disposition of Gary. (Mot. (Dkt. # 11).) The parties contend that the issue to be 22 determined in Gary—“[w]hether a defendant who pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm 1 as a felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. [§§] 922(g)(1) and 924(a), is automatically entitled to 2 plain-error relief if the district court did not advise him that one element of that offense is 3 knowledge of his status as a felon, regardless of whether he can show that the district

4 court’s error affected the outcome of the proceedings”—is potentially dispositive in this 5 matter. (Mot. at 2.) The court agrees, and GRANTS the parties’ motion to stay 6 proceedings (Dkt. # 11). This case is STAYED pending a ruling from the Supreme Court 7 in Gary. The parties are ORDERED to file a joint status report within ten days of the 8 Supreme Court issuing a ruling in Gary, or seven months of the date of this order,

9 whichever is first. 10 11 Dated this 19th day of March, 2021. 12 A 13 14 JAMES L. ROBART United States District Judge 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22