USA v. CHAPMAN
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today released an opinion in USA v. CHAPMAN, No. 07-50000, a criminal appeal. The panel consisted of David R. Thompson and Kim McLane Wardlaw, Circuit Judges, and Edward C. Reed, Jr., District Judge.
WARDLAW, Circuit Judge:
Lee Chapman appeals his misdemeanor conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 111(a) for forcibly resisting, opposing, impeding, and interfering with a federal officer engaged in official duties. Because § 111(a) allows misdemeanor convictions only where the acts constitute simple assault, and because Chapman’s nonviolent civil disobedience did not constitute a . . .