United States v. Mariano A. Meza-Rodriguez

798 F.3d 664, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14670, 2015 WL 4939943
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 20, 2015
Docket14-3271
StatusPublished
Cited by40 cases

This text of 798 F.3d 664 (United States v. Mariano A. Meza-Rodriguez) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Mariano A. Meza-Rodriguez, 798 F.3d 664, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14670, 2015 WL 4939943 (7th Cir. 2015).

Opinions

WOOD, Chief Judge.

When Mariano Meza-Rodriguez, a citizen of Mexico, was arrested in August 2013, he was carrying a .22 caliber cartridge. But it was what he did not have— documentation showing that he is lawfully in the United States — that concerns us now. His immigration status made his possession of the cartridge a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), which prohibits foreigners who are not entitled to be in the United States (whom we will call “unauthorized aliens”) from possessing firearms. Meza-Rodriguez moved to dismiss the indictment that followed, arguing that § 922(g)(5) impermissibly infringed on his rights under the Second Amendment to the Constitution. The district court denied his motion on the broad ground that the Second Amendment does not protect unauthorized aliens. That rationale swept too far, and we do not endorse it. The court’s judgment, however, was correct for a different reason: the Second Amendment does not preclude certain restrictions on the right to bear arms, including the one imposed by § 922(g)(5).

I

Meza-Rodriguez was brought to this country by his family when he was four or five years old. Without ever regularizing his status, he has remained here since that time. His current troubles began just before midnight on August 24, 2013, when City of Milwaukee police officers responded to a report that an armed man was at a local 'bar. The officers obtained a surveillance video showing a man pointing an object that resembled a firearm. Witnesses later identified that man as MezaRodriguez. A few hours later, the same officers responded to a different report of a fight at a neighboring bar. The officers broke up the fight and recognized MezaRodriguez as the man from the surveillance video. After a foot chase, they apprehended him and patted him down. This brief search turned up a .22 caliber cartridge in his shorts pocket.

The government later filed an indictment alleging that Meza-Rodriguez had violated 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5). That statute states, in pertinent part, that:

[i]t shall be unlawful for any person ... (5) who, being an alien—
(A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States;
[667]*667or
(B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa to ... possess in or affecting commerce, any firearm or ammunition....

Meza-Rodriguez moved to- dismiss the indictment on the ground that § 922(g)(5) imposes an unconstitutional restraint on his Second Amendment right to bear arms. The magistrate judge recommended that the district court deny the motion, relying in part on the conclusion that the Second Amendment does not protect unauthorized aliens. The district court concurred and denied Meza-Rodriguez’s motion. MezaRodriguez then pleaded guilty pursuant to an agreement with the government and preserved this issue for appeal. See Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(a)(2). The district court sentenced Meza-Rodriguez to time served with no supervised release, and he was later removed to Mexico. Meza-Rodriguez filed a timely notice of appeal from his conviction.

II

Before addressing the merits, we must ensure that Meza-Rodriguez’s removal to Mexico has not rendered his appeal moot. We may not entertain this appeal unless it represents a live case or controversy. See U.S. Const, art. Ill, § 2. To satisfy this requirement, Meza-Rodriguez “must have suffered, or be threatened with, an actual injury traceable to the defendant and likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision.” Spencer v. Kemna, 523 U.S. 1, 7, 118 S.Ct. 978, 140 L.Ed.2d 43 (1998) (quoting Lewis v. Cont’l Bank Corp., 494 U.S. 472, 477, 110 S.Ct. 1249, 108 L.Ed.2d 400 (1990)). A person cannot continue to litigate “unless he can show a reasonable probability of obtaining a tangible benefit from winning.” Diaz v. Duckworth, 143 F.3d 345, 347 (7th Cir.1998). A convicted person who already has served his sentence must point to “some concrete and continuing injury,” ie., “some ‘collateral consequence’ of the conviction.” Spencer, 523 U.S. at 7, 118 S.Ct. 978.

With the benefit of supplemental briefing from the parties, for which we thank them, we are satisfied that Meza-Rodriguez meets this standard. The immigration laws declare that any person who has been removed from the United States and who has committed an aggravated felony is permanently inadmissible. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(9)(A)(ii). As matters presently stand, Meza-Rodriguez meets both requirements for this permanent bar: he has been removed, and his violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5) is an aggravated felony. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(E)(ii).

Indeed, it is possible, though not certain, that a § 922(g)(5) violation might also qualify as a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT). The latter term is not defined by statute, see Marin-Rodriguez v. Holder, 710 F.3d 734, 737 (7th Cir.2013), but the Board of Immigration Appeals and the courts have offered definitions. The Board has said that moral turpitude is “conduct that is inherently base, vile, or depraved, contrary to the accepted rules of morality and the duties owed other persons.....” See Knapik v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 84, 89 (3d Cir.2004) (describing the definition used by the Board in its case and deferring to it). This court has suggested that such crimes are both “deliberately committed and ‘serious,’ either in terms of the magnitude of the loss that it causes or the indignation that it arouses in the law-abiding public.” Padilla v. Gonzales, 397 F.3d 1016, 1019 (7th Cir.2005); see also Mei v. Ashcroft, 393 F.3d 737 (7th Cir.2004) (discussing difficulty of creating a clear definition of the term). Persons who have been convicted of a CIMT are [668]*668also inadmissible. See 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a) (2) (A) (i) (I).

Thus, if Meza-Rodriguez loses this appeal, he cannot return to the United States. If he wins, he does not face a permanent bar to admission. The possibility of returning to this country is a “tangible benefit” to Meza-Rodriguez; likewise, his current inability to reenter is a “concrete and continuing injury.” The appeal is therefore not moot.

The decision in Diaz might appear at first glance to be in some tension with that conclusion, but a closer look shows that it is not. Diaz also involved an unauthorized alien who had completed his sentence and had been removed from the country before we heard his appeal. See Diaz, 143 F.3d at 346. But that is the extent of the similarity between that case and ours. Diaz did not contest the validity of his conviction.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
798 F.3d 664, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 14670, 2015 WL 4939943, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-mariano-a-meza-rodriguez-ca7-2015.