Van Oudenhoven v. Wis. Dept. of Justice, 2023AP70-FT, petition for review of a published court of appeals decision, granted 11/12/24; case activity (including briefs)
SCOW granted review to determine whether an expunged conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence under Wisconsin law qualifies as an “expungement” under 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(33)(B)(ii) for purposes of obtaining a firearm.
In a published opinion discussed in an OP post in June, the court of appeals held that Van Oudenhoven’s expunged conviction did not qualify as an “expungement” under 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(33)(B)(ii) because Wisconsin’s expungement procedure does not completely remove the effects of the conviction; specifically, although the record is expunged, the conviction is not invalidated. Van Oudenhoven argued in his petition for review that the court of appeals’ decision conflicts with the plain meaning of the federal statute and is in conflict with SCOTUS’s decision in Logan, which stated that an expungement describes a measure by which the government relieves an offender of some or all of the consequences of his conviction.
