United States v. Hill

378 F. Supp. 3d 387
District Court, E.D. Pennsylvania·Decided August 8, 2018·No. CRIMINAL ACTION No. 17-327·Published

Opinion

Gerald Austin McHugh, United States District Judge

This case involves a prosecution for Hobbs Act robbery where the Defendant was also charged with brandishing a firearm during a crime of violence in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c). The question before me is whether, once a jury has unanimously agreed that a firearm was brandished, it must also unanimously agree that the firearm employed was the specific weapon identified in the indictment. Because I conclude that the type of firearm used is not an element of the offense defined by § 924(c), and because in this case the variance between the Government's proof at trial and the language of the indictment cannot be said to have prejudiced any substantial right of the Defendant, his Motion to Vacate his conviction for brandishing a weapon will be denied.

The charges against Defendant Terrance Hill arose from his participation in an armed robbery of a Subway sandwich shop on Lancaster Avenue in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia on January 18, 2014. Along with three accomplices, Hill took cash from the store's register, and in the process brandished a firearm in the presence of a Subway employee. The robbery was one of a series in which Hill had participated, together with another perpetrator, Shyheem Williams1 , who, like Hill, also had access to a handgun.

With respect to the § 924(c) offense, the Indictment charged Hill with carrying and brandishing a particular firearm, a SAR ARMS 9mm handgun, Model SARB6P, with an obliterated serial number. As the case proceeded, the Government eventually concluded that the weapon brandished by Hill during the Subway robbery was a different one, a weapon that was in fact later confiscated from his accomplice, Shyheem Williams. At trial, the Government then presented evidence suggesting that the gun brandished by Hill actually belonged to Williams, from whom it was ultimately seized. During its deliberations, the jury astutely recognized that the Government's evidence at trial differed from the terms of the Indictment. It communicated a question to the Court, as follows: "To be found guilty of brandished [sic] a firearm does the firearm have to be SAR ARMS 9 mm? Can it be any gun?" Def.'s Ex. B, ECF No. 56-2. Because the correct answer required a nuanced analysis of competing opinions from the Court of Appeals, rather than delay the jury's deliberations, I reserved ruling on the legal question, and submitted a supplemental interrogatory that would provide clarity as to the factual basis for whatever verdict the jury reached. The jury was asked: "If you found defendant TERRANCE HILL guilty on Count 2 ... please answer the following interrogatory as well: Do you unanimously find that the firearm that was brandished was an SAR ARMS 9 mm handgun?" The jury answered this question in the negative, leading to Defendant's Motion to Vacate. Supplemental Jury Interrog., ECF No. 50.

The defense relies upon United States v. Theodoropoulos for the proposition that the jury can only convict based on the *389weapon specified in the indictment. 866 F.2d 587, 597 (3d Cir. 1989), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Price , 76 F.3d 526, 528 (3d Cir. 1996). The Government responds that the language from Theodoropoulos forming the basis for Defendant's argument was later characterized as dicta in United States v. Wise , 515 F.3d 207, 214 (3d Cir. 2008), where the Court of Appeals reached a contrary result. Having carefully studied these competing decisions, I am persuaded that the Government is correct that Wise sets the controlling standard.

Theodoropoulos was a prosecution for conspiracy, including a § 924(c)(1) charge for using a firearm to further drug trafficking. The evidence included a shotgun found inside an apartment used by the defendants, where drugs and drug paraphernalia were also found, and three additional weapons found outside in a trash can on the porch of the property, which were not recovered until after the defendants had been taken into custody. The jury returned a conviction, but its verdict did not identify the specific weapon that formed the basis for its verdict. The Court of Appeals vacated the conviction because an element of the offense was the use of a firearm in furtherance of trafficking. Theodoropoulos , 866 F.2d at 597-98. While it was confident that the shotgun inside the property where the drugs were found could be deemed to have furthered unlawful dealing, the court was concerned that the presence of guns on the porch did not rise above mere possession, which the statute did not criminalize. In the course of its analysis, the Court remarked that the trial judge had correctly instructed the jury it must be unanimous as to which firearm was involved. Id. at 597.

In Wise , a separate panel of the Third Circuit deemed this language from Theodoropoulos dicta.2 Wise was also a prosecution for drug trafficking, in which the Government presented eyewitness testimony that both of the defendants brandished weapons during the course of their dealing-one a machine pistol, and the other a shotgun. Following conviction, Wise argued that the district court erred by failing to instruct the jury that it must be unanimous as to which weapon he brandished. The Court of Appeals characterized this argument as one that did not merit "extensive discussion" because "a specific type of firearm is not an element of a violation under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A)." Wise , 515 F.3d at 214.

The court in Wise cited precedent from three sister circuits, and language from a Supreme Court case, Richardson v. United States , 526 U.S. 813, 119 S.Ct. 1707, 143 L.Ed.2d 985

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United States v. Hill, 378 F. Supp. 3d 387 (E.D. Pa. 2018).

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