United States v. Jeremy Jerome Moore

241 F. App'x 599
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedJune 29, 2007
Docket06-14831
StatusUnpublished

This text of 241 F. App'x 599 (United States v. Jeremy Jerome Moore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Jeremy Jerome Moore, 241 F. App'x 599 (11th Cir. 2007).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Jeremy Jerome Moore appeals his conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(e).

I. BACKGROUND

On July 23, 2005, Fort Myers police officer Candice Derrig pulled over a silver Dodge Intrepid. The car was driven by Jeremy Kinchen. His cousin, Latroy Pender, was in the passenger seat, and Moore was a passenger in the back seat.

As Derrig approached the car, she noticed the strong smell of marijuana. The windows were rolled down, and Derrig observed that Moore had marijuana on his shirt. After a backup officer arrived, Derrig ordered Moore out of the vehicle. As Moore exited the vehicle, both Derrig and the backup officer noticed that he was sitting on a handgun. Moore was subsequently arrested for possession of the gun and ammunition. After a jury trial, Moore was found guilty of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Moore asserts three issues on appeal, which we address in turn.

II. DISCUSSION

A. Exclusion of Searcy’s Testimony

Moore first contends the district court erred in excluding witness testimony regarding the gun. At trial, Moore attempted to present testimony from Tamara Searcy, Kinchen’s ex-girlfriend. According to the proffer, Searcy would have testified that Kinchen had showed her a handgun in the glove compartment of the Intrepid 19 days earlier. Searcy also would have testified the guns looked similar, but she could not say the gun found with Moore was the same as the one possessed by Kinchen. The district court excluded this testimony as irrelevant.

In general, all relevant evidence is admissible, and irrelevant evidence is inadmissible. Fed. R. Evid. 402. “The trial court is vested with broad discretion in ruling upon the relevancy and admissibility of evidence.” United States v. Anderson, 872 F.2d 1508, 1515 (11th Cir.1989). “ ‘Relevant evidence’ means evidence having any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination of the action more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.” Fed. R. Evid. 401.

The district court did not abuse its discretion in excluding Searcy’s testimony. See United States v. Alaboud, 347 F.3d 1293, 1298 (11th Cir.2003) (stating evidentiary decisions are reviewed for abuse of discretion). The record shows that, at best, Searcy would have testified she saw a gun in the glove compartment of the Intrepid 19 days before Moore was caught with a gun in the back seat. The record further shows she could not identify the gun or say whether it was the same gun on both occasions. Accordingly, the only thing Searcy’s testimony would prove is that Kinchen had a gun in the car more than two weeks before Moore was caught with a gun in the car. The fact Kinchen had a gun in the glove compartment on July 4, 2005, does not make it more or less likely that Moore had a similar gun in the back seat on July 23, 2005. Moreover, *601 because Searcy could do no more than testify the gun in the glove compartment was “similar,” she could not establish possession with her testimony. Accordingly, the testimony was not relevant. See Fed. R. Evid. 401.

B. Armed Career Criminal Act

Moore contends he should not have been sentenced under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA) because the qualifying prior convictions alleged in the indictment were not submitted to, nor found by, a jury. Essentially, Moore is arguing that Almendarez-Torres v. United States, 523 U.S. 224, 118 S.Ct. 1219, 140 L.Ed.2d 350 (1998), is no longer good law. He additionally argues his case is distinguishable from Almendarez-Torres because while Almendarez-Torres admitted his prior convictions during his change of plea colloquy, Moore merely admitted he was a convicted felon during his jury trial, and did not admit the actual prior offenses.

In Almendarez-Torres, the Supreme Court held the government need not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant had prior convictions or allege those prior convictions in its indictment in order to use those convictions to enhance a defendant’s sentence. 118 S.Ct. at 1233. We have consistently held that Almendarez-Torres remains good law. In United States v. Shelton, we held that the decision in Almendarez-Torres was “left undisturbed by Apprendi, Blakely, and Booker,” and that “a district court does not err by relying on prior convictions to enhance a defendant’s sentence.” 400 F.3d 1325, 1329 (11th Cir.2005). Additionally, we have expressly stated we are “bound by Almendarez-Torres until it is explicitly overruled by the Supreme Court.” United States v. Dowd, 451 F.3d 1244, 1253 (11th Cir.), cert. denied — U.S. -, 127 S.Ct. 335, 166 L.Ed.2d 250 (2006).

It was not necessary for the jury to find all of Moore’s prior convictions beyond a reasonable doubt. See Almendarez-Torres, 118 S.Ct. at 1233. Rather, it was sufficient for the judge to find that Moore had the predicate convictions. Shelton, 400 F.3d at 1329. Moore’s attempt to distinguish Almendarez-Torres is equally without merit. The holding in Almendarez-Torres does not hinge on whether a defendant goes to trial or admits his actual predicate offenses. See Almendarez-Torres, 118 S.Ct. at 1233 (holding the government need not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant had prior convictions or allege those prior convictions in its indictment in order to use those convictions to enhance a defendant’s sentence).

C. Reasonableness

Moore asserts his sentence is unreasonable because the district court gave undue weight to the Guidelines, notwithstanding other factors that may have called for a lesser sentence.

Following the Booker decision, the district court must first correctly calculate the defendant’s Guidelines range, then, using the § 3553(a) sentencing factors, 1 the court can impose a more severe or more lenient sentence as long as it is reasonable. United States v. Crawford,

Related

United States v. Alaboud
347 F.3d 1293 (Eleventh Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Terrance Shelton
400 F.3d 1325 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Charles Crawford, Jr.
407 F.3d 1174 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. David William Scott
426 F.3d 1324 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. John Kevin Talley
431 F.3d 784 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Robert Earl Dowd
451 F.3d 1244 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
Almendarez-Torres v. United States
523 U.S. 224 (Supreme Court, 1998)
United States v. Booker
543 U.S. 220 (Supreme Court, 2004)
United States v. Keith Anderson, Byron Carlisle
872 F.2d 1508 (Eleventh Circuit, 1989)

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Bluebook (online)
241 F. App'x 599, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jeremy-jerome-moore-ca11-2007.