United States of America v. Milder Escobar-Temal

Nashville, Tennessee, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with unlawful possession of a firearm under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A),

Milder Escobar-Temal is a citizen of Guatemala who came to America unlawfully over a decade ago and resides in Nashville, Tennessee. In October 2022, police found three firearms in Escobar-Temal’s residence.

Escobar-Temal was born in Guatemala in 1987. While in Guatemala, he married and had
one daughter. His daughter had a serious intestinal deformity that resulted in significant medical
bills for the family. Escobar-Temal was unable to pay those bills in Guatemala either through
work or through bank loans, so he unlawfully entered the United States to find employment.
Since 2012, Escobar-Temal has been living in Nashville and working steadily as a flooring
contractor. His only criminal record is a 2016 charge for driving without a drivers’ license,
which was dismissed later that same year. Escobar-Temal divorced his first wife and, in 2018,
remarried. He has two children with his second wife, both of whom are United States citizens.

On October 12, 2022, Nashville police officers responded to a call from Escobar-Temal’s
wife alleging that he was sexually abusing her 14-year-old daughter—Escobar-Temal’s
stepdaughter. The police conducted a search incident to arrest and found three firearms in Escobar-Temal’s residence: one on a couch and two in the bedroom Escobar-Temal shared with his wife.

On December 12, 2022, the Government charged Escobar-Temal with unlawful
possession of a firearm while illegally present in the United States, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5)(A). Escobar-Temal moved to dismiss the indictment, arguing that, on its face, § 922(g)(5)(A) is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment. The Government countered that § 922(g)(5)(A) does not violate the Second Amendment for two reasons. First, the Government argued that the Second Amendment—which protects the “right of the people to keep and bear arms”—does not encompass non-citizens (both lawfully present and unlawfully present) because they are not part of “the people.” U.S. Const. amend. II. (emphasis added). Second, the Government contended that there is a longstanding historical tradition of disarming groups analogous to lawfully and unlawfully present immigrants.

Motion to dismissed denied.

Escobar-Temal pled guilty to the single-count indictment and reserved his right to appeal the denial of his motion on grounds that § 922(g)(5)(A) is unconstitutional. The district court accepted Escobar-Temal’s guilty plea and sentenced him to twelve months and one day in prison and three years of supervised release.

Affirmed on appeal.