United States v. Bugh, 459 F.Supp.3d 1184

Roger Bugh was convicted by jury (June 2011) of being a felon in possession of a firearm and sentenced to 188 months after the court found him an Armed Career Criminal under the ACCA.
The PSR listed nine prior violent-felony convictions, including multiple Minnesota burglaries (post-1988) and a Minnesota second-degree assault; three Minnesota burglary convictions were treated as ACCA predicates at sentencing.
The jury instructions did not require the jury to find that Bugh knew his felon status—an element later required by Rehaif v. United States.
After sentencing the Supreme Court decided Johnson (invalidating the ACCA residual clause) and Rehaif (requiring knowledge of status); Bugh filed a § 2255 petition claiming (1) Rehaif error requires a new trial and (2) Johnson means he is not an ACCA offender and must be resentenced.
The court held the Rehaif instruction error harmless on the facts (Bugh’s long, repeated felony convictions made awareness of felon status obvious) but granted relief under Johnson: Minnesota second- and third-degree burglary (post-1988) do not qualify as ACCA violent felonies, so Bugh lacks three predicates and must be resentenced.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Rehaif jury-instruction error	Jury should have been instructed that Bugh knew he was a felon when possessing the gun; new right under Rehaif	Instruction omitted knowledge-of-status element so conviction invalid	Error recognized but harmless—no new trial because Bugh’s record makes knowledge of status indisputable (Brecht standard)
ACCA classification (Johnson)	Minnesota burglary convictions do not qualify post-Johnson; thus Bugh lacks three ACCA predicates and sentence exceeds statutory max	Government says claim untimely and predicates qualify; alternatively some burglaries might be force-clause predicates	Johnson applies; Minnesota second- and third-degree burglary sweep beyond generic burglary and are not ACCA predicates; with only two valid predicates, ACCA enhancement vacated
Timeliness / §2255(f)(3) (actual-innocence tolling)	Untimely §2255 should be excused because Bugh is actually innocent of being an ACCA offender	Government contends statute of limitations bars relief	Court applies Eighth Circuit precedent (Jones/Wilson/Lofton) and finds actual-innocence/miscarriage-of-justice exception excuses untimeliness for an illegal/over-max sentence

Rehaif v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 2191 (2019) (knowledge-of-status is an element of felon-in-possession)
Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015) (ACCA residual clause unconstitutional)
Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619 (1993) (harmless-error standard for nonstructural constitutional errors in collateral review)
Taylor v. United States, 495 U.S. 575 (1990) (categorical approach and definition of generic burglary)
Mathis v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2243 (2016) (distinguishing divisible statutes and limits on modified categorical approach)
Quarles v. United States, 139 S. Ct. 1872 (2019) (clarified remaining-in theory for generic burglary)
United States v. McArthur, 850 F.3d 925 (8th Cir. 2017) (held Minnesota third-degree burglary broader than generic burglary)
Lofton v. United States, 920 F.3d 572 (8th Cir. 2019) (applies actual-innocence/miscarriage-of-justice to untimely Johnson-based §2255 claims)
McQuiggin v. Perkins, 569 U.S. 383 (2013) (actual-innocence exception can overcome procedural bars to habeas relief)