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UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Todd Karl BRAMER, Defendant-Appellant

United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit2016-08-11No. No. 15-3121
832 F.3d 908

Summary

Holding. The court affirmed Bramer's conviction, holding that although a facial vagueness challenge to 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) might succeed under different circumstances, Bramer failed to show that the statute was vague as applied to his specific conduct of possessing firearms while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance.

Todd Bramer pleaded guilty to possessing firearms while being an unlawful user of marijuana, in violation of the federal prohibition on firearm possession by controlled substance users. On appeal, Bramer challenged the constitutionality of the statute, arguing that the terms "unlawful user" and "addicted to" a controlled substance are impermissibly vague under the Constitution.

The court rejected Bramer's vagueness argument. Although the court acknowledged that these statutory terms could potentially raise vagueness concerns in other contexts, it found that Bramer failed to demonstrate vagueness as applied to his particular conduct. Bramer's own guilty plea admitted that he knowingly possessed multiple firearms while regularly using marijuana, making clear that he understood his conduct violated the law. The court concluded that Bramer received adequate notice that his actions were criminal and that the statute gave him fair warning.

Summary generated by law.co from the public-domain opinion. The opinion text itself is public domain.

Key issues

  • Whether the federal prohibition on firearm possession by unlawful users of controlled substances is unconstitutionally vague
  • Whether vagueness challenges to criminal statutes require proof of unconstitutionality in all applications or only as applied to the defendant's conduct
  • Whether adequate notice was provided to a defendant who admitted to knowingly possessing firearms while using marijuana

Procedural posture

Bramer appealed his guilty plea conviction for firearm possession by a prohibited person, raising a facial constitutional challenge to the validity of the statute.

Authorities cited

No cited authorities resolved to law.co cases yet.

Opinion

majority opinion

PER CURIAM.

Todd Bramer pled guilty to one count of possession of firearms by a prohibited person — specifically, an unlawful user of a controlled substance — -in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3). In his written guilty plea, Bramer admitted to “knowingly possessing] firearms,” including two handguns and at least one other firearm, while “being an unlawful user of marijuana.” Bramer also waived the right to appeal all non-jurisdictional issues. On appeal from the district court, Bramer argues that § 922(g)(3), which makes it unlawful for “any person ... who is an unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance” to possess a firearm, is unconstitutionally vague.

Bramer argues that § 922(g)(3) is facially unconstitutional, because the terms “unlawful user” of a controlled substance and “addicted to” a controlled substance are vague. Though we are inclined to think that this argument could be meritorious under the right factual circumstances, it fails here. Bramer’s argument rests in large part on Johnson v. United States, — U.S. -, 135 S.Ct. 2551, 192 L.Ed.2d 569 (2015), which applied a more expansive vagueness analysis than prior case law might have suggested. Before Johnson, we required defendants challenging the facial validity of a criminal statute to establish that “ ‘no set of circumstances exist[ed] under which the [statute] would be valid.’ ” United States v. Stephens, 594 F.3d 1033, 1037 (8th Cir. 2010) (quoting United States v. Salerno, 481 U.S. 739, 745, 107 S.Ct. 2095, 95 L.Ed.2d 697 (1987)). Johnson, however, clarified that a vague criminal statute is not constitutional “merely because there is some conduct that falls within the provision’s grasp.” Johnson, 135 S.Ct. at 2561.

Though Bramer need not prove that § 922(g)(3) is vague in all its applications, our case law still requires him to show that the statute is vague as applied to his particular conduct. United States v. Cook, 782 F.3d 983, 987 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 136 S.Ct. 262, 193 L.Ed.2d 193 (2015) (‘“a [defendant] who engages in some conduct that is clearly prohibited cannot complain of the vagueness of the law as applied to the conduct of others’ ” (quoting Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. 1, 18-19, 130 S.Ct. 2705, 177 L.Ed.2d 355 (2010))). Here, Bramer admitted in his written plea agreement to being an unlawful user of marquana while in knowing possession of at least three firearms. We therefore have no basis in the record to conclude that the term “unlawful user” of a controlled substance was unconstitutionally vague as applied to him. United States v. Huckaby, 698 F.2d 915, 920 (8th Cir. 1982) (“Generally, constitutional challenges not raised before the trial court are not cognizable on appeal unless they constitute plain error.”).

Though it is plausible that the terms “unlawful user” of a controlled substance and “addicted to” a controlled substance could be unconstitutionally vague under some circumstances, Bramer does not argue, and has not shown, that either term is vague as applied to his particular conduct of possessing firearms while regularly using marijuana. Under our case law, his facial challenge to the constitutionality of § 922(g)(3) cannot succeed without such a showing. Cook, 782 F.3d at 988-90 (finding that the statute in question gave the defendant “adequate notice that his conduct was criminal”). Accordingly, we affirm Bramer’s conviction.

. The Honorable Charles B. Kornmann, United States District Judge for the District of South Dakota.

. The parties agree that Bramer’s appeal waiver in this case precludes all but a facial constitutional challenge. United States v. Seay, 620 F.3d 919, 922 (8th Cir. 2010).