Second Amendment

An Iowa Pot User Serving 4 Years for Gun Possession Gets Another Chance To Challenge His Prosecution

Alexander Ledvina was convicted of violating a federal law at the center of a Second Amendment case that the Supreme Court is considering.

Jacob Sullum | 3.3.2026 3:45 PM

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on RedditShare by emailPrint friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google

Media Contact & Reprint Requests

Alexander Ledvina (Alexander Ledvina/Andrea La Corte/Dreamstime)

Ali Hemani, the Texas cannabis consumer at the center of a Second Amendment case that the Supreme Court heard on Monday, was charged with illegal drug possession in 2023. His case never went to trial because the charge was dismissed based on a 2024 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, which held that the Second Amendment bars such prosecutions when they are based on nothing beyond the elements specified by the statute. By contrast, Alexander Ledvina, an Iowa cannabis consumer, was convicted of the same charge in 2023 and is now serving a 51-month sentence at the federal prison in Memphis.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit recently gave Ledvina a shot at freedom by ruling that a district court should decide whether his prosecution was consistent with the Second Amendment. The 8th Circuit's February 6 decision in United States v. Ledvina largely embraces the 5th Circuit's logic, which also got a seemingly sympathetic reception at the Supreme Court in United States v. Hemani. "Without more," Judge Ralph Erickson writes in the 8th Circuit panel's majority opinion, "drug use generally or marijuana use specifically does not automatically extinguish a person's Second Amendment right."

That ruling by no means guarantees a victory for Ledvina, since the government will argue that the case against him includes "more": allegations that suggest he was more dangerous than the average marijuana user. But the principle endorsed by the 8th Circuit, which Hemani wants the Supreme Court to accept, would preclude many, perhaps most, prosecutions under 18 USC 922(g)(3), which makes it a felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison, for an "unlawful user" of "any controlled substance" to receive or possess a firearm. To prove the elements of that felony, the government does not need to show that the defendant's pattern of drug use posed any sort of threat to public safety.

Judge David Stras, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, joined Erickson, another Trump appointee, in concluding that Ledvina deserved another chance to argue that imprisoning him for owning guns violates the Second Amendment. Although 8th Circuit precedent rules out a facial challenge to Section 922(g)(3), they say, "an as-applied challenge may be available."

The 8th Circuit first signaled the........

© Reason.com