{"id":87102,"date":"2019-01-10T11:50:35","date_gmt":"2019-01-10T16:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/?p=87102"},"modified":"2019-11-05T15:12:05","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T20:12:05","slug":"guilty-plea-effect-appeal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sentencing.net\/appeal\/guilty-plea-effect-appeal","title":{"rendered":"The Effect of a Guilty Plea on an Appeal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t
A guilty plea does not necessarily mean that a criminal defendant gives up the right to appeal his conviction. If the defendant seeks to challenge the constitutionality of the statute that he pled guilty to violating, he may still have the right to a direct appeal from a district court’s decision. This is the principle that the Supreme Court recently made clear in its decision in Class v. United States<\/em><\/a>. While the decision does not depart from prior case law in any meaningful way, it is still an encouraging reinforcement of a defendant’s right to pursue constitutional challenges in criminal cases after a guilty plea.<\/p>\n In Class v. United States<\/em>, the Supreme Court heard a case in which the defendant was indicted in D.C. federal court for possession of a firearm<\/a> inside a locked vehicle within the limits of the nation’s capital. He was charged pursuant to 40 U. S. C. \u00a75104(e)(1),<\/a> which states that a person may not carry “on the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings a firearm.” The defendant argued in district court that the charge should be dismissed because the statute at issue violates the Second Amendment<\/a> and the Due Process Clause. He never disputed that he was indeed in possession of a gun within the restricted area. In exchange for the government dropping related charges, the defendant pled guilty to violating the statute. While the defended entered a guilty plea, nothing in the plea agreement<\/a> that the defendant signed stated that he agreed to waive the right to challenge the constitutionality of the statute he was convicted of violating. These appeal waivers are common<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe Supreme Court Decision in Class v. United States<\/em><\/h2>\n