United States v. Talmage Sims

Case: 24-50598 Document: 100-1 Page: 1 Date Filed: 08/25/2026

United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit United States Court of Appeals ____________ Fifth Circuit FILED No. 24-50598 August 25, 2026 Summary Calendar Lyle W. Cayce ____________ Clerk United States of America, Plaintiff—Appellee, versus Wesley Dylan Talmage Sims, Defendant—Appellant. ______________________________ Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas USDC No. 7:24-CR-33-1 ______________________________ Before Davis, Richman, and Oldham, Circuit Judges.

Per Curiam: * Wesley Dylan Talmage Sims was convicted of possession of a firearm following a felony conviction, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). He challenges his conviction on appeal, asserting that § 922(g)(1) violates the Second Amendment as applied to him.

Case: 24-50598 Document: 100-1 Page: 2 Date Filed: 08/25/2026

No. 24-50598

As the Government concedes, even if Sims failed to adequately preserve this issue in the district court and plain error applies, his conviction must be reversed. Here, Sims’s § 922(g)(1) conviction was predicated on his Texas felony conviction for possession of a controlled substance. We have held that § 922(g)(1) violates the Second Amendment as applied to a defendant whose predicate felony was simple drug possession. See United States v. Hembree, 165 F.4th 909, 911-18 (5th Cir. 2026), petition for cert. filed (U.S. Apr. 24, 2026) (No. 25-1219).

Therefore, we hold that § 922(g)(1), as applied to Sims, violates the Second Amendment, and we REVERSE his conviction.