Man Late on Child Support Wrongly Convicted on Firearm Charge

A man who previously failed to pay child support was unconstitutionally convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a split federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

A district court infringed upon Edward Cockerham’s Second Amendment right when it convicted him for possessing a firearm based on his past offense, Judge James C. Ho said for the majority at the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The court reversed the lower court’s conviction of Cockerham and remanded his case for further proceedings.

“As the record demonstrates, and as the Government conceded during oral argument, Cockerham was no ...