Little v. United States

Summary

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed Marvin Little's convictions arising from an attempted armed robbery. The court rejected his Second Amendment challenges to convictions for carrying a pistol without a license, possessing an unregistered firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition; held that any error in the aiding-and-abetting instruction did not affect his substantial rights; and concluded that any Confrontation Clause error concerning certificates of no record was not plain at the time of trial.

Holdings

1. The unpreserved Second Amendment challenge did not warrant reversal. The statutes were not facially invalid merely because of Heller, and Little could not show that applying them to his conduct constituted plain error.
2. Even assuming that the natural-and-probable-consequences language in the aiding-and-abetting instruction was erroneous under then-controlling District of Columbia law, the error did not affect Little's substantial rights and was harmless under plain-error review.
3. Admission of the certificates of no record was error under the Confrontation Clause because the certificates were testimonial, but the error was not plain at the time of Little's 2005 trial and did not require reversal.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Little's convictions for carrying a pistol without a license, possession of an unregistered firearm, and unlawful possession of ammunition were reversible under the Second Amendment after District of Columbia v. Heller.
2. Whether the trial court's aiding-and-abetting instruction, including the natural-and-probable-consequences language, was reversible plain error.
3. Whether admission of certificates of no record of firearm registration and a pistol-carry license violated the Sixth Amendment Confrontation Clause and required reversal.

Disposition

affirmed