Cristian Nuño-Lopez was indicted on one count of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) by possessing a firearm and ammunition as a felon. He moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that the statute was unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, both on its face and as applied to him. The district court denied this motion. Nuño-Lopez subsequently pled guilty and was sentenced to 70 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He appealed the denial of his motion to dismiss, but in his appellate brief, he explicitly conceded that his Second Amendment claims were already foreclosed by the Tenth Circuit's decision in Vincent v. Bondi, stating he was raising the issue solely for the purpose of preserving the argument for future litigation.
The panel unanimously determined that no further review of the Second Amendment challenge was warranted. The court relied on its prior decision in Vincent v. Bondi, which established that the Second Amendment does not protect the right of felons to possess firearms. Because the defendant conceded in his appellate brief that this precedent foreclosed his claims, the court found no legal basis to revisit the issue. The opinion notes that the defendant raised the claims only for preservation purposes, acknowledging that the law was settled against him under existing Tenth Circuit authority.
The judgment of the district court is affirmed, meaning the conviction stands. The decision reinforces the binding nature of Vincent v. Bondi within the Tenth Circuit regarding felon-in-possession challenges. While the defendant preserved the issue for potential future review, the immediate effect is that the statute remains enforceable against felons in this jurisdiction without further judicial scrutiny under the Second Amendment.
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