A federal appeals court panel this week sent the case of a Billings man who previously pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a gun in a school zone near Broadwater Elementary School back to the lower court.

The appeals court recommended his indictment be dismissed, ruling the government failed to give him proper notice he could be violating federal law.

Gabriel Metcalf was previously sentenced to three years of probation in August 2024 after he pleaded guilty to violating the Gun-Free School Zones Act, a 1990 federal law that in most instances prohibits a person from carrying a firearm within 1,000 feet of school grounds. A reversal of the indictment and his guilty plea would mean Metcalf can legally carry firearms again.

The judges' decision is the first, according to the cour

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