United States v. Richard Price

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit

___________________________

No. 24-3344

___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Richard Joseph Price

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant

____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas - Fayetteville

____________

Submitted: March 20, 2026 Filed: March 25, 2026

[Unpublished]

____________

Before SMITH, GRASZ, and STRAS, Circuit Judges.

____________

PER CURIAM.

Richard Price appeals after he pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He argues that the district court1 erred by denying his motion to dismiss

1 The Honorable Timothy L. Brooks, Chief Judge, United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas.

the indictment on Second Amendment grounds and that his base offense level was incorrectly calculated because his prior Arkansas convictions do not meet the definition of a “controlled substance offense.” Upon careful review, we conclude that the district court properly denied the motion and calculated the enhanced base offense level, as Price’s arguments are foreclosed by this court’s precedent. See United States v. Jackson, 110 F.4th 1120, 1125, 1129 (8th Cir. 2024), cert. denied, 145 S. Ct. 2708 (2025); see also United States v. Henderson, 11 F.4th 713, 718-19 (8th Cir. 2021).2 Accordingly, we affirm.

______________________________

2 Even if an as-applied challenge to the felon-in-possession statute were available to Price, he could not succeed. He has dozens of criminal convictions, several of them violent. This criminal history leaves no doubt that he “present[s] a credible threat to the physical safety of others.” United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. 680, 700 (2024).