United States v. Swan

── United States v. Swan ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: April 08, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 25-6032 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/08/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Tenth Circuit FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT April 8, 2026 _________________________________ Christopher M. Wolpert Clerk of Court UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. No. 25-6032 (D.C. No. 5:21-CR-00028-F-1) JOHN MIGUEL SWAN, (W.D. Okla.) Defendant - Appellant. _________________________________ ORDER AND JUDGMENT * _________________________________ Before PHILLIPS, McHUGH, and EID, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ Defendant-Appellant John Miguel Swan appeals his conviction and sentence for possessing ammunition as a convicted felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Mr. Swan contends that his conviction violates the Second Amendment and that the district court imposed a substantively unreasonable sentence. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm. * This order and judgment is not binding precedent, except under the doctrines of law of the case, res judicata, and collateral estoppel. It may be cited, however, for its persuasive value consistent with Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 32.1 and Tenth Circuit Rule 32.1.  Appellate Case: 25-6032 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/08/2026 Page: 2 I. BACKGROUND A. Factual History On September 9, 2020, Oklahoma law enforcement officers went to a residence where Mr. Swan was located to execute a felony warrant against him after he was accused of domestic assault and battery against the woman he was dating. When the officers arrived, they saw Mr. Swan run from the backyard into the residence. The officers knocked on the front door and instructed Mr. Swan to open it several times. Eventually he did, and the officers brought him outside and “placed him on the ground until more officers were able to assist.” ROA Vol. III at 45. As the officers brought Mr. Swan to the ground, “a loaded 9mm pistol magazine with 17 live rounds fell from [his] pants pocket and landed on the ground near the officer’s feet.” Id. The officers arrested Mr. Swan and transported him to a detention center. B. Procedural History 1. Indictment and Guilty Plea A grand jury indicted Mr. Swan on one count of possessing ammunition as a convicted felon under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Following his counsel’s advice, Mr. Swan pleaded guilty. His plea counsel later withdrew from representation, and the district court appointed Mr. Swan a new attorney. Several months later, Mr. Swan wrote a letter to the district court stating that he was innocent but that his initial counsel forced him to enter a guilty plea out of “blatant force and ineffective assistance of counsel.” ROA Vol. I at 99. The district 2  Appellate Case: 25-6032 Document: 70-1 Date Filed: 04/08/2026 Page: 3 judge construed Mr. Swan’s letter as a motion to withdraw his plea and denied the motion because Mr. Swan did not present “a credible claim of innocence.” Id. at 344. Mr. Swan subsequently asked the district court