This was enough, the prosecution alleged, to make that a conviction of a predicate crime of "domestic violence" which would, accordingly, bring him within the scope of the federal prohibition.

Hayes agreed the person he battered was, in fact, his wife; but in 1994 the state of West Virginia did not have a statute that prohibited "domestic violence" as a specific crime.

Therefore, Hayes argued, it was in effect legally impossible for him to be banned from firearm possession under the "domestic violence" extension for acts committed within West Virginia.

It decided that the state misdemeanor law must contain, as an element of the crime, a "domestic relationship between the offender and the victim," 482 F.3d 749, 751 (2007), and that the indictment was indeed faulty.

The Supreme Court agreed with the Government that the indictment was sufficient and that the Fourth Circuit's interpretation of the Gun Control amendments was erroneous.