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CONDITIONAL DISCHARGE NOT A CONVICTION

Tyrius Smith had a prior North Carolina case in which he had pled guilty, and then been “conditionally discharged.” But when he was caught with a gun, the Federal district judge called his prior a felony, and Ty was convicted of being a felon in possession of a gun in violation of 18 USC § 922(g).

Last week, the 4th Circuit reversed his conviction. “While there is no doubt that Ty possessed a firearm,” the 4th said, “we must decide whether he was a felon under federal law. Answering that question is surprisingly difficult. Federal law treats someone as a felon if “convicted” of a crime punishable by more than one year in prison. But what exactly counts as a ‘conviction’? In some cases the answer seems easy — for example, where a federal judge imposes a sentence after a jury has found the defendant guilty. In other cases it is hard; this is one of them.”

The North Carolina judge, after Ty’s guilty plea, imposed a “conditional discharge” as allowed by state law. This meant that without entering a judgment of guilt,” the court “deferred further proceedings and placed the person on probation… for the purpose of allowing the defendant to demonstrate the defendant’s good conduct.” If Ty fulfilled his probation conditions, the guilty plea would be withdrawn and the case dismissed.

Alas, Ty did not fulfill the conditions. Instead, he was caught with some guns, and his probation was violated by North Carolina. But before the conditional discharge could be withdrawn and he could be convicted in the state, the Feds charged him with the § 922(g).

The North Carolina felon-in-possession law defines “conviction” as “a final judgment in any case in which felony punishment, or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year… is authorized, without regard to the plea entered or to the sentence imposed.” Ty’s guilty pla and conditional discharge — as required by statute — was done without entering a judgment of guilt.” And without entry of a judgment, the 4th Circuit said, “and until the anticipated further proceedings” take place, the conditional discharge does not lead to a final judgment.”

So Ty dodged his Federal case. But he still has some ‘splainin’ to do to his North Carolina judge, and the smart money suggests that the state court is going to take the botched federal prosecution into account when it slams old Ty with time in state prison.

United States v. Smith, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 29218 (4th Cir. Sept. 27, 2019)

– Thomas L. Root