⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Ninth Circuit considers a challenge to a prison sentence arising from a 2011 shooting in a gang-racketeering case. A federal jury convicted Adrian Gordon of attempted murder and assault in aid of racketeering, along with a related firearm offense. In 2018, he received twenty-seven years in prison, including ten years added for the firearm count. After losing his direct appeal, Gordon filed a postconviction motion without a lawyer. The district judge denied it, and he is now appealing that denial. For his firearm conviction, Section 924(c) requires a qualifying underlying crime of violence. That is a legal category, not simply a description of how frightening the events were. You will hear about VICAR, short for violent crimes in aid of racketeering, and Pinkerton liability. Under Pinkerton, a member of a conspiracy can sometimes be responsible for another member's crimes committed within its scope and in furtherance of it, if reasonably foreseeable. Gordon's lawyer will seek to overturn the firearm conviction. The government will defend the denial of relief. The judges will also ask whether arguments being advanced now were properly presented earlier. This is not a new trial: the court must consider both the legal challenge and the procedural limits on reopening a conviction.

United States v. Gordon (No. 25-715) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, argued October 22, 2026.