United States v. Isiah Joy

── United States v. Isiah Joy ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit Date: June 04, 2026 Category: NEW USCA11 Case: 24-12302 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 06/04/2026 Page: 1 of 9 NOT FOR PUBLICATION In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit ____________________ No. 24-12302 Non-Argument Calendar ____________________ UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus ISIAH TEANTHONY JOY, Defendant-Appellant. ____________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama D.C. Docket No. 7:23-cr-00225-LSC-NAD-1 ____________________ Before NEWSOM, BRASHER, and TJOFLAT, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: The District Court for the Northern District of Alabama sen- tenced Isiah Teanthony Joy to 60 months’ imprisonment for know- ingly possessing a firearm as a convicted felon in violation of 18 USCA11 Case: 24-12302 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 06/04/2026 Page: 2 of 9 2 Opinion of the Court 24-12302 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Joy appeals his conviction and sentence. First, he argues that § 922(g)(1) is unconstitutional as applied to him in light of the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Rahimi, 602 U.S. 680, 144 S. Ct. 1889 (2024). Next, he argues that the sentence imposed by the District Court is substantively unreasonable. Find- ing none of his arguments persuasive, we affirm. I. BACKGROUND On January 14, 2023, an Alabama State Trooper Cochran conducted a traffic stop on a black Dodge Durango for speeding. As the trooper approached the vehicle, he noticed the smell of ma- rijuana. The trooper identified Joy in the driver’s seat, an adult pas- senger in the front seat, and a minor passenger in the back seat. Based on the marijuana odor, Trooper Cochran ordered all occupants to exit the vehicle and conducted a search. Trooper Cochran found a bag of marijuana on the gear shift of the vehicle, another bag of marijuana in the driver side door pocket, yet an- other bag of marijuana in the center console, and a backpack with marijuana inside in the back seat area. He also found a digital scale behind the driver’s seat, and six-hundred dollars in cash and a loaded Smith & Weston 9mm pistol in the side door pocket. Trooper Cochran arrested Joy and transported him to the Tuscaloosa County Jail. After being read his Miranda 1 rights, Joy told law enforcement officers that he purchased the firearm at a 1 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966). USCA11 Case: 24-12302 Document: 36-1 Date Filed: 06/04/2026 Page: 3 of 9 24-12302 Opinion of the Court 3 gun show, and he admitted to being a convicted felon. Joy also ad- mitted that the marijuana found in the vehicle was his and that he purchased it in Ohio. A grand jury indicted Joy on one count of possessing a fire- arm as a convicted felon, in violation of § 922(g)(1). On October 18, 2023, Joy filed a motion to dismiss the in- dictment under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 12(b)(3). Joy argued that § 922(g)(1), as applied to his case, violates the Second Amendment as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen,