United States v. Deveon Belk

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: September 29, 2025
• Docket: 24-4383
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

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UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 24-4383

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff - Appellee,

v.

DEVEON ANTONIO BELK,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Columbia. Mary G. Lewis, District Judge. (3:22-cr-00655-MGL-1)

Submitted: September 25, 2025 Decided: September 29, 2025

Before GREGORY and WYNN, Circuit Judges, and FLOYD, Senior Circuit Judge.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

ON BRIEF: Joshua S. Kendrick, KENDRICK & LEONARD, P.C., Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellant. Adair F. Boroughs, United States Attorney, Leesa Washington, Assistant United States Attorney, OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY, Greenville, South Carolina, for Appellee.

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PER CURIAM:

Following a bench trial, the district court convicted Deveon Antonio Belk of, among

other charges, seven counts of brandishing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence,

in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). The district court sentenced Belk to 589

months’ imprisonment. On appeal, Belk argues that the evidence was insufficient to prove

beyond a reasonable doubt that he used an actual firearm to commit several armed

robberies. We affirm.

Belk committed seven armed robberies between November 9, 2020, and November

16, 2020. Video surveillance and testimony of several eyewitness victims, including store

managers and other employees, confirmed that Belk brandished a gun during the robberies.

Belk contends that the Government failed to prove that the weapon he carried during the

robberies was an actual firearm because none of the eyewitnesses could testify for certain

that the gun they saw was a firearm, and a firearms expert testified that he could not

conclusively confirm from surveillance images that Belk brandished a firearm. Belk avers

that, absent such proof, the evidence was insufficient to support his § 924(c) convictions.

When reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence presented in a bench trial, we must

uphold each guilty verdict so long as substantial evidence supports it. United States v.

Landersman, 886 F.3d 393, 406 (4th Cir. 2018). “Substantial evidence means evidence

that a reasonable finder of fact could accept as adequate and sufficient to support a

conclusion of a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. (internal quotation marks

omitted). In conducting this review, we construe the evidence in the Government’s favor.

Id.

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A conviction under § 924(c) requires a showing that a firearm was possessed,

brandished, or discharged during a crime of violence. 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). For

purposes of § 924(c), a “firearm” is defined as “any weapon (including a starter gun) which

will or is designed to or may readily be converted to expel a projectile by the action of an

explosive.” 18 U.S.C. § 921(a)(3). A conviction under § 924(c) can be sustained solely

on the strength of testimony of lay witnesses unfamiliar with firearms, and no expert

testimony is required. United States v. McNeal, 818 F.3d 141, 149 (4th Cir. 2016); United

States v. Jones, 907 F.2d 456, 460 (4th Cir. 1990). ∗ However, in addition to multiple

witnesses who testified that Belk brandished a black and silver gun at close range during

the robberies, a black and silver gun is visible in surveillance videos, and its appearance is

consistent with a firearm recovered at Belk’s residence bearing his DNA. And while the

firearms expert’s inability to confirm the nature of the gun in the surveillance videos does

not lend support to the conclusion that Belk brandished a firearm, neither does it undermine

the other evidence provided by the Government. The Government presented enough

evidence for a reasonable factfinder to conclude that Belk was guilty of the § 924(c)

charges.

∗ Belk contends on appeal that McNeal and Jones do not control here because the defendants in those cases argued that the Government must provide expert testimony to support a § 924(c) conviction, while he contends that the expert testimony provided by the Government in his case does not support the conclusion that he brandished a firearm. This argument is unavailing, however, because Belk puts the sufficiency of lay witness testimony to support a § 924(c) conviction at issue, which is firmly foreclosed by McNeal and Jones.

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Accordingly, we affirm Belk’s criminal judgment. We dispense with oral argument

because the facts and legal contentions are adequately presented in the materials before this

court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED