United States v. Chiles

185 F. App'x 301
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJuly 11, 2006
Docket05-5082
StatusUnpublished

This text of 185 F. App'x 301 (United States v. Chiles) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth 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. Chiles, 185 F. App'x 301 (4th Cir. 2006).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Emory Taylor Chiles appeals his conviction under 18 U.S.C.A. § 922(g) (West 2000) for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon stemming from his arrest on May 8, 2005. Chiles contends that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction, that the district court erred by refusing to instruct the jury that the possession must have been intentional, that the district court erred in admitting into evidence a May 8, 2005 recorded telephone call, and that the district court erred by refusing to admit another call recorded on May 10, 2005. We have jurisdiction to review Chiles’s conviction pursuant to 28 U.S.C.A. § 1291 (West 1993) and for the reasons set forth below, we affirm.

The Government argued to the jury that Chiles possessed a firearm. To prove possession of a firearm in violation of § 922(g)(1), the Government had to establish that “(1) the defendant previously had been convicted of a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment exceeding one year; (2) the defendant knowingly possessed, transported, shipped, or received, the firearm; and (3) the possession was in or affecting commerce, because the firearm had traveled in interstate or foreign commerce at some point during its existence.” United States v. Langley, 62 F.3d 602, 606 (4th Cir.1995). The government need not produce evidence of actual possession, as it may proceed on a constructive possession theory demonstrating that the defendant “showed ownership, dominion, or control over the [firearm] itself.” United States v. Blue, 957 F.2d 106, 107 (4th Cir.1992). We will sustain the jury’s verdict if it is supported by substantial evidence. See United States v. Cardwell, 433 F.3d 378, 390 (4th Cir.2005). While the evidence produced at trial relating to possession was conflicting, we are required to view it in the light most favorable to the Government. 1 See United States v. Mitchell, 209 F.3d 319, 324 (4th Cir.2000) (citing Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942)).

Chiles rests his insufficiency of the evidence argument on our decision in United States v. Blue, 957 F.2d 106 (4th Cir.1992). In Blue, we held that mere evidence of a passenger’s shoulder dipping as an officer approached the vehicle and the corresponding discovery of a firearm under the passenger’s seat was insufficient to support a constructive possession theory. Id. at 108. We noted that such facts “fall outside, but just barely, the realm of the quantum of evidence necessary to support a finding of constructive possession.” Id. With Blue establishing a baseline for the Government’s burden of proof for con *303 structive possession, we turn to the facts presented in Chiles’s case.

At trial, the Government presented the eyewitness testimony of the arresting officer. The officer testified that he stopped the vehicle in which Chiles was riding for a broken light. When the officer approached the vehicle from behind, he noticed the passenger in the backseat, Chiles, make movements, but he could not determine what the individual was doing. The officer then shined his flashlight into the backseat and a shiny object peeking out of the seat pocket directly in front of Chiles caught his attention. When the officer shined the light directly on the object, he realized it was the butt of a gun. Chiles’s knees were directly in front of the pocket containing the gun. The officer further testified that the gun was in a position in the seat pocket consistent with a right-handed person’s movements. Chiles is right-handed.

The Government also produced recorded telephone calls from Chiles to Rodney Stevenson, the driver of the vehicle. During their May 8, 2005 conversation, Stevenson told Chiles that “you supposed to have that sh*t on your hip, dog---- And they wouldn’t [have] seen it.” (J.A. at 59.) In response, Chiles did not deny knowing about the gun, but he explained that wearing the gun on his hip would not have been smart because the police could have patted him down. 2 Chiles also telephoned Joseph Jones, the passenger in the front seat of the vehicle, and attempted to persuade Jones to say that the gun belonged to him. Later, Chiles wrote Jones and asked Jones to say that the gun belonged to Chiles’s girlfriend. On cross-examination, Chiles admitted that his attempts to persuade Jones and his girlfriend to take responsibility for the gun were attempts to have witnesses testify falsely. 3 Chiles’s statements to Stevenson and Jones are sufficient to demonstrate that he had the power and intention to exercise control over the firearm. See United States v. Reamer, 589 F.2d 769, 770 (4th Cir.1978) (“The law is well established that, in a criminal case, evidence of a defendant’s attempt to influence a witness to testify regardless of the truth is admissible against him on the issue of criminal intent.”).

In summary, unlike the minimal evidence produced in Blue, the Government’s presentation, if believed, of Chiles’s telephone calls to Stevenson and Jones, his letter to Jones, and Chiles’s own statements at trial provided more than enough evidence to demonstrate that Chiles was aware of the gun’s presence and that he possessed the gun. Thus, a rational jury could have determined that Chiles’s explanation was inconsistent with a lack of intent. In light of the above evidence, we conclude that substantial evidence supported the jury’s verdict that Chiles constructively possessed the firearm.

We turn next to Chiles’s argument that the district court erred by refusing to instruct the jury that his possession of the firearm had to be intentional. “Jury instructions are reviewed to determine whether, taken as a whole, the instructions fairly state the controlling law.” United States v. McQueen, 445 F.3d 757, 759 (4th Cir.2006) (internal quotation marks and alterations omitted). “Denial of a requested jury instruction constitutes reversible error only if the instruction: (1) was correct; (2) was not substantially covered by the court’s charge to the jury; and (3) dealt *304 with some point in the trial so important that failure to give the requested instruction seriously impaired the defendant’s ability to conduct his defense.” United States v. Guay, 108 F.Sd 545, 550 (4th Cir.1997) (internal quotation marks omitted).

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Related

Glasser v. United States
315 U.S. 60 (Supreme Court, 1942)
United States v. Howard G. Reamer
589 F.2d 769 (Fourth Circuit, 1978)
United States v. Herbert Randolph Blue
957 F.2d 106 (Fourth Circuit, 1992)
United States v. Richard Langley
62 F.3d 602 (Fourth Circuit, 1995)
United States v. Ronald Sherrill Wilkerson
84 F.3d 692 (Fourth Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Winston Eugene Mitchell, Sr.
209 F.3d 319 (Fourth Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Dustin John Higgs
353 F.3d 281 (Fourth Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Thomas Edward Uzenski
434 F.3d 690 (Fourth Circuit, 2006)

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185 F. App'x 301, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-chiles-ca4-2006.