United States v. Chambers

408 F.3d 237, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 7447, 2005 WL 995671
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedApril 29, 2005
Docket03-51274
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 408 F.3d 237 (United States v. Chambers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Chambers, 408 F.3d 237, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 7447, 2005 WL 995671 (5th Cir. 2005).

Opinion

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge:

Eugene Chambers, III (Chambers) appeals his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) for being a felon in possession of ammunition. We reverse his conviction and remand to the district court with instructions to dismiss that count of the indictment.

Facts and Proceedings Below

Chambers, along with two co-defendants, stood trial in June of 2008 on a 20-count superceding indictment that alleged an elaborate drug conspiracy and other related crimes. Chambers was charged in five counts of the indictment, namely in one count of conspiracy, from January 1998 to August 2002, to manufacture and distribute more than 50 kilograms of cocaine base, in two counts of aiding and abetting the distribution of cocaine base on, respectively, October 9 and November 17, 2001, in one count of conspiracy, from January 1998 to August 2002, to launder money, and, finally, in count 19, with being a felon in possession of ammunition on or about August 8, 2002, contrary to section 922(g)(1). The money laundering conspiracy count was dismissed before the case was submitted to the jury. The jury on July 1, 2003 returned a verdict of not-guilty as to three drug counts but found Chambers guilty of Count 19, the ammunition count.

With respect to Chambers’ conviction, the evidence at trial established the following. First, Chambers was a convicted felon. Second, although the only evidence on the subject indicated that the ammunition belonged to Chambers’ father and had been inadvertently included among Chambers’ things when he moved out of his father’s San Antonio apartment, Chambers was aware of the ammunition’s presence in his new home. Finally, the ammunition in question, as alleged in the indictment, consisted of “104 rounds of .40 caliber S&W jacketed hollow-point ammunition, distributed by Houston Cartridge Company.” The authorities discovered the rounds at Chambers’ new residence while executing a search warrant there connected to the *239 drug investigation. The ammunition was visible in a box in a pantry-like closet in the apartment Chambers shared with his fiancee in San Antonio, Texas. Other than a few unidentified rounds, the ammunition was in its original packaging and the evidence established that it was manufactured by the Houston Cartridge Company in Willis, Texas, just outside of Houston, Texas. Jim Butz, the owner of Houston Cartridge Company, testified that he produces, in Texas, completed rounds, using brass (cartridge cases) from Texas and sometimes from Colorado, bullets (projectiles) from Texas, South Dakota and Montana, powder from Tennessee, and primers from South Dakota. Houston Cartridge Company sold the rounds it produced at various places, including gun shows in San Antonio and other Texas locations. There is no evidence that any of the completed rounds found in Chambers’ apartment, as opposed to some of their components, had ever moved in interstate commerce. 1

At the close of the government’s case in chief Chambers moved for judgment of acquittal under Rule 29(a), Fed.R.Civ.P., as to the ammunition count on the ground that there was “not evidence that the ammunition which was manufactured in Houston was in interstate commerce” and that to look to some of the component parts “is a constructive amendment to the indictment, which is improper.” The district court denied the motion. At the close of all the evidence, Chambers renewed his Rule 29(a) motion and the district court again denied it.

The court instructed the jury that to convict on the ammunition count it had to find “that the possession of the ammunition was in and affecting commerce, that is that before the defendant possessed the ammunition, it had travelled at sometime from one state to another,” and, over Chambers’ objection (9 R. 754-56; 10 R 1211-12), that “[t]he term ammunition means ammunition or cartridge cases, primers, bullets or propellant powders designed for use in any firearm.” In both its opening and rebuttal closing arguments the government, expressly relying on this instruction, contended that the “in and affecting commerce element” of the ammunition count was proven by the evidence that “the components, before they were assembled, crossed state lines” and “the components moved in interstate commerce before it was assembled ... ammunition includes the components, as the judge told you.” The government did not argue there was any evidence that any of the completed rounds alleged in the indictment had moved in interstate commerce. Chambers’ counsel argued that though some components of the completed rounds may have traveled in interstate commerce, the completed rounds themselves did not.

After the jury returned its verdict on July 1, 2003 finding Chambers guilty of the ammunition count and not guilty of the other counts with which he was charged, Chambers timely moved under Rule 29(c) for judgment of acquittal as to the ammunition count on the ground that there was no evidence any of the “104 rounds of .40 caliber ... ammunition, distributed by the Houston Cartridge Company ... had been transported in interstate commerce” as alleged in the indictment, and that conviction could not rest on evidence that some component parts had separately moved in interstate commerce before being assembled into such rounds as that would constitute a constructive amendment of the indictment contrary to Stirone v. United States, 361 *240 U.S. 212, 80 S.Ct. 270, 4 L.Ed.2d 252 (1960). This motion was denied.

Chambers was subsequently sentenced to 235 months’ imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release.

In his timely appeal to this court, Chambers contends, inter alia, that the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction because there is no evidence that his possession of ammunition was “in and affecting” commerce as alleged in the indictment in that none of the completed rounds charged in the indictment were shown to have moved in interstate commerce, and that his conviction may not be sustained on evidence that some component parts of those rounds had traveled interstate before Houston Cartridge Company assembled them into the completed rounds, as that would constitute a constructive amendment of the indictment. 2

Discussion

Count 19 of the indictment alleges that “On or about August 8, 2002, in the Western District of Texas, Defendant, Eugene Chambers, III, having been convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year did knowingly possess in and affecting commerce ammunition, to wit: 104 rounds of .40 caliber S&W jacketed hollow-point ammunition, distributed by the Houston Cartridge Company, which had been transported in interstate commerce, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2).”

Section 922(g)(1) provides in relevant part that

“It shall be unlawful for any person ... who has been convicted in any court of, a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year ...

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Sargent
Fifth Circuit, 2025
United States v. Flores
Fifth Circuit, 2025
United States v. Rider
94 F.4th 445 (Fifth Circuit, 2024)
United States v. Herman Sanders
966 F.3d 397 (Fifth Circuit, 2020)
United States v. Brian Phea
953 F.3d 838 (Fifth Circuit, 2020)
United States v. Deion Lockhart
844 F.3d 501 (Fifth Circuit, 2016)
United States v. Terrance Walker
734 F.3d 451 (Sixth Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Thompson
647 F.3d 180 (Fifth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Girod
646 F.3d 304 (Fifth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Sylvia Smith
431 F. App'x 335 (Fifth Circuit, 2011)
United States v. Calvin Williams
375 F. App'x 366 (Fifth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Broadnax
601 F.3d 336 (Fifth Circuit, 2010)
United States v. Adams
314 F. App'x 633 (Fifth Circuit, 2009)
United States v. Baker
544 F. Supp. 2d 522 (E.D. Louisiana, 2008)
United States v. Garza
250 F. App'x 67 (Fifth Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Dentler
492 F.3d 306 (Fifth Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Hoover
467 F.3d 496 (Fifth Circuit, 2006)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
408 F.3d 237, 2005 U.S. App. LEXIS 7447, 2005 WL 995671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-chambers-ca5-2005.