Cameron Battiste v. United States
1. If a grand jury indicts a defendant for violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), but omits the statute's knowledge-of-status element, has the defective indictment deprived the defendant of the Fifth Amendment right not to answer for a crime unless it's presented to the grand jury as well as the Sixth Amendment right to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation?
2. If a petit jury finds a defendant guilty of violating 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) without considering the statute's knowledge-of-status element or having the government present any evidence of that element, does the conviction violate the Fifth Amendment's due process clause?
3. When engaging in plain error review, can an appellate court look to facts never presented to a petit jury and rely on them to determine that a defendant is unable to establish a defect that seriously affects the fairness, integrity or public reputation of a judicial proceeding?
Whether a defective indictment that omits an element of the charged offense deprives the defendant of Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights