US v. Markel Smith
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Reversed in Part
Smith pled guilty to possessing a machinegun but challenged both the constitutionality of 18 U.S.C. § 922(o) and a four-level Sentencing Guidelines enhancement for having a firearm with a modified serial number. The Fourth Circuit upheld his conviction, found § 922(o) constitutional, but reversed the serial-number enhancement, holding it applies only when all serial numbers are illegible, vacating his sentence and remanding for resentencing.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether the four-level enhancement in U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(4)(B)(i) applies when only one of multiple serial-number markings on a firearm is rendered illegible, or whether the firearm must be rendered wholly untraceable (all serial numbers illegible).
Circuit Positions
Enhancement applies if any one serial-number marking is illegible or unrecognizable (no requirement that all markings be obliterated).
Enhancement applies only if all serial-number markings are illegible, rendering the firearm untraceable.
Conflict Summary
Most circuits hold that the enhancement is triggered so long as any single serial-number marking on the firearm is altered, even if other markings remain legible. The Fourth Circuit, in this opinion, holds that the enhancement applies only when every serial-number marking has been modified so that the firearm is no longer traceable, adopting a traceability requirement the other circuits reject.