MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The Supreme Court is set to decide whether a Tennessee man's misdemeanor domestic assault plea should ban him from gun ownership.
The high court on Wednesday will hear prosecutor's appeal in the case of James Castleman of Huntingdon.
Castleman pleaded guilty to one count of misdemeanor domestic assault in 2001. He was then charged in 2009 with illegal possession of a firearm by a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence. A federal judge threw those charges out.
Federal law bars a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence involving physical force or a deadly weapon from possessing a firearm. The judge said that the Tennessee misdemeanor domestic assault conviction doesn't require that physical force be used, and so the federal ban couldn't apply to Castleman.
The government wants to overturn the decision.