United States v. Dias

── United States v. Dias ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Date: May 06, 2026 Category: General Appellate Case: 25-6028 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 05/06/2026 Page: 1 FILED United States Court of Appeals PUBLISH Tenth Circuit UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS May 6, 2026 Christopher M. Wolpert FOR THE TENTH CIRCUIT Clerk of Court _________________________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff - Appellee, v. No. 25-6028 MICHAEL JOSEPH DIAS, Defendant - Appellant. _________________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma (D.C. No. 5:24-CR-00188-HE-1) _________________________________ Lynn C. Hartfield, Law Office of Lynn C. Hartfield, LLC, Denver, Colorado, for Defendant-Appellant. Tanner Larkin, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. (Robert J. Troester, United States Attorney, Office of the United States Attorney, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with him on the brief), for Plaintiff-Appellee. _________________________________ Before PHILLIPS, McHUGH, and EID, Circuit Judges. _________________________________ McHUGH, Circuit Judge. _________________________________ Defendant-Appellant Michael Joseph Dias appeals his conviction and 120- month sentence under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) for possessing ammunition as a felon.  Appellate Case: 25-6028 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 05/06/2026 Page: 2 One morning in 2024, B.A. 1 came home to find Mr. Dias, a stranger, inside his apartment. After an initial struggle, B.A. chased Mr. Dias outside. According to B.A., Mr. Dias pulled a gun and fired one or two shots at him. Mr. Dias then fled the scene and was arrested after a lengthy foot chase. Officers never recovered a firearm, but they found one shell casing in front of B.A.’s apartment building. After a two-day trial, a federal jury convicted Mr. Dias of possessing ammunition as a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The U.S. Sentencing Commission Guidelines range for the crime was 63 to 78 months’ imprisonment. The district court varied upward from the Guidelines range and imposed a sentence of 120 months. Mr. Dias challenges both his conviction and sentence. First, he argues the district court abused its discretion by admitting evidence of his prior conviction for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Second, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence supporting his conviction. Third, he disputes the substantive reasonableness of his sentence. Fourth, and finally, he argues that § 922(g)(1) is facially unconstitutional under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Exercising jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, we affirm. 1 We refer to the victim by his initials. 2  Appellate Case: 25-6028 Document: 64-1 Date Filed: 05/06/2026 Page: 3 I. BACKGROUND A. Factual History 2 On the morning of April 2, 2024, B.A. left his apartment in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, locking his front door on his way out. He returned home about an hour later to find his front door unlocked and being held shut by someone on the other side. After a brief struggle, B.A. forced his door open and entered his apartment. He found a stranger inside whom he later id