No. 19-2914 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

Justin Dwight Sholley-Gonzalez

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Southern District of Iowa - Des Moines ____________

Submitted: December 18, 2020 Filed: May 10, 2021 ____________ Before SMITH, Chief Judge, WOLLMAN and LOKEN, Circuit Judges. ____________

SMITH, Chief Judge.

An Iowa state court issued a protection order against Justin Dwight Sholley- Gonzalez. In issuing the order, the court did not expressly designate the protected person as an “intimate partner” under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8), though the protected person was in fact an intimate partner. Under § 922(g)(8), a person subject to a court order protecting an intimate partner is restricted from possessing firearms and ammunition.

Sholley-Gonzalez attempted to purchase a firearm. While doing so, he failed to indicate on a federal firearm-transaction form that he was subject to a court order protecting an intimate partner. Law enforcement believed his omission violated 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6). As a result, law enforcement obtained and executed a search warrant for Sholley-Gonzalez’s house. The search revealed shotgun ammunition.

Sholley-Gonzalez was charged and indicted under §§ 922(g)(8) and 922(a)(6). He moved to dismiss the indictment for failure to state an offense because the protection order against him did not affirmatively indicate it protected an intimate partner. The district court denied his motion and convicted him on both counts after a bench trial. After his conviction but before sentencing, Sholley-Gonzalez moved for acquittal or a new trial based on the Supreme Court’s decision in Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019), which clarified that the government must prove that the defendant had knowledge of his restricted status. Sholley-Gonzalez argued that Rehaif invalidated his conviction because the government had not proved that he knew that his status restricted his ability to possess firearms and ammunition under § 922(g). The district court denied his motion. At sentencing, Sholley-Gonzalez argued that his sentence should be reduced pursuant to the sporting-use reduction in § 2K2.1(b)(2) of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. The district court declined to apply the reduction.

Sholley-Gonzalez appealed. We affirm the district court’s decisions regarding Sholley-Gonzalez’s motions but remand for resentencing as to district court’s application of the sporting-use reduction.

-2- I. Background In October 2017, an Iowa court issued a protection order that “restrained [Sholley-Gonzalez] from committing any acts of abuse or threats of abuse” and “from any contact with [S.O.].” Stipulation, Ex. 1, at 1, United States v. Sholley-Gonzalez, No. 4:18-cr-00090-RGE-CFB-1 (S.D. Iowa 2019), ECF No. 52-2. The first page of the order form provided, “Warnings to Defendant,” in bolded font. Id. (emphasis omitted). One of these three warnings stated, “Federal law provides penalties for possessing, transporting, shipping, or receiving any firearm or ammunition (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8)).” Id. (emphasis omitted).

The second page of the order form included a list of items to be checkmarked if applicable. The first section provided two mutually exclusive boxes to be checked, based on the identity of the protected party. One box was to be checked