O’Connor: Puerto Rico Conviction Basis for Gun Possession Charge

In her first opinion as a visiting judge on the 3rd Circuit, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has ruled that a conviction in Puerto Rico is a valid predicate for a charge of illegally possessing a gun as a felon. O’Connor, joined by two 3rd Circuit judges, found that the appeal by Marco Laboy-Torres presented a question of first impression in the courts of appeals. But O’Connor concluded that Torres was asking the 3rd Circuit to stretch a 2005 Supreme Court ruling beyond its intended scope.