United States v. Kyle Turner, 842 F.3d 602

On June 11, 2015, state probation officer discovered a shotgun and ammunition in Kyle Turner’s bedroom; Turner’s urine tested positive for methamphetamine the same day.
Turner was indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(3) for possession of a firearm while an "unlawful user" of methamphetamine.
Turner moved pretrial to dismiss, arguing § 922(g)(3) is unconstitutionally vague as applied because the indictment did not allege "regular" drug use.
The district court denied the motion, later accepted Turner’s conditional guilty plea (preserving the right to appeal the denial), and after considering additional evidence found Turner had engaged in regular drug use overlapping the possession.
Turner was sentenced to 15 months and appealed, challenging the denial of the motion to dismiss and various sentencing issues; the court did not address sentencing issues because of its disposition.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether § 922(g)(3) is unconstitutionally vague as applied absent an allegation of "regular" drug use temporally tied to gun possession	Turner: indictment failed to allege "regular" use; statute vague as applied	Government: resolution of vagueness requires factual development and was premature	Court: issue required factual findings about regular use overlapping possession; could not be resolved pretrial without a trial; denial reversed
Whether the district court could definitively rule pretrial on Turner's as-applied vagueness challenge or should have deferred to trial	Turner: court should have deferred so he could choose to withdraw plea and proceed to trial for appellate review	Government: court could consider evidence and rule pretrial; denial was proper	Court: district court erred by making definitive factual findings pretrial instead of deferring; prejudice to Turner; remand for further proceedings

United States v. Huggans, 650 F.3d 1210 (8th Cir. 2011) (standard of review for denial of motion to dismiss)
United States v. Covington, 395 U.S. 57 (1969) (pretrial motions capable of determination without trial)
United States v. Bloomfield, 40 F.3d 910 (8th Cir. 1994) (courts may consider evidence beyond pleadings in pretrial factual findings)
United States v. Grimmett, 150 F.3d 958 (8th Cir. 1998) (issues inevitably bound up with evidence of the offense cannot be decided pretrial)
United States v. Wilson, 26 F.3d 142 (D.C. Cir. 1994) (good cause to defer when factual determinations lie with finder of fact)
United States v. Turnball, 349 F.3d 558 (8th Cir. 2003) (need for temporal nexus between "unlawful user" and firearm possession to avoid vagueness)
Johnson v. United States, 135 S. Ct. 2551 (2015) (vagueness doctrine requires fair notice and guards against arbitrary enforcement)