BOSTON — A Vershire man spending seven years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to weapons possession has appealed his sentence in federal court.

Dominick Bailey, 58, was sentenced on Aug. 8, 2023, to 89 months in prison for being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition. He is incarcerated at Fort Dix, a low security federal prison in New Jersey.

Bailey and co-defendant Glenn Lacedra were arrested by police in a 2019 sting for attempting to trade guns for meth in Boston. In separate cases, both men later pleaded guilty to criminal charges. It was Bailey’s third federal conviction for being a felon in possession of firearms. He has a lengthy criminal history dating to 1983.

But less than one month after Bailey was sentenced last year, he filed a notice of appeal. In court filings, Bailey’s attorneys challenged the sentence on three separate grounds: whether the plea was valid due to Bailey’s mental illnesses and medication use, judicial errors in calculating the sentence length, and whether the federal statute that prohibits firearms possession by ex-felons is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

Oral arguments were held in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston on Sept. 5.

“It was error to accept this plea,” said Bailey’s attorney, David Nathanson. “It was not knowing and voluntary.”

He said Bailey has a long history of mental health issues, traumatic brain injury, bipolar disorder and substance use disorder. While Bailey told the trial judge that his disability did not interfere with his understanding of the terms of the plea, his appeals court attorney argued that the judge did not go far enough in his questioning.

“But when you inquire with someone with known issues like that, their own perception of how they are doing isn’t enough to dispose with further more detailed inquiry,” Nathanson said. “It’s just not reliable.”

A decision in the appeal is expected at a later date.