United States v. Kruger

75 F. App'x 514
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedAugust 21, 2003
DocketNo. 02-3646
StatusPublished

This text of 75 F. App'x 514 (United States v. Kruger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Kruger, 75 F. App'x 514 (7th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

[516]*516ORDER

Authorities found a sawed-off shotgun in a bag in an apartment rented by David Kruger’s father, and based on that weapon a jury found Kruger guilty of possession of a firearm by a felon, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and possession of an unregistered firearm, 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d). The district court sentenced Kruger as an armed career criminal to 290 months’ imprisonment for violating § 922(g), see 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), and a concurrent 120 months for violating § 5861. Kruger appeals, but his appointed counsel seeks to withdraw under Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738, 87 S.Ct. 1396, 18 L.Ed.2d 493 (1967), because he believes all potential appellate issues are frivolous. Counsel’s supporting brief is facially adequate and Kruger has not responded, see Circ. R. 51(b), so we limit our review to the potential issues counsel identifies. See United States v. Tabb, 125 F.3d 583, 584 (7th Cir.1997) (per curiam); United States v. Wagner, 103 F.3d 551, 553 (7th Cir.1996). We agree with counsel that all identified issues would be frivolous, and therefore grant counsel’s motion to withdraw and dismiss the appeal.

Counsel first considers whether Kruger could argue that the district court should have granted his motion to suppress incriminating statements made soon after his arrest. As counsel notes, the only issue raised in the motion was whether police officers provided Kruger with the warnings required by Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Kruger claimed they had not, but the district court held a hearing on the question and ultimately decided to believe police officers who testified that they gave the required warnings. This is the type of stark credibility determination that appellate courts almost never overturn on appeal. See United States v. Willis, 300 F.3d 803, 806 (7th Cir.2002). Because there are no special circumstances in this case suggesting that we should deviate from our usual deference to the district court on credibility, we agree with counsel that an appeal of this issue would be frivolous.

Counsel next considers whether Kruger might argue that §§ 922(g)(1) and 5861(d) are unconstitutional because they exceed the power delegated to Congress by the Constitution. He concludes that any such argument would be frivolous, and we agree: § 922(g)(1) is constitutional under the Commerce Clause, see United States v. Hemmings, 258 F.3d 587, 594 (7th Cir.2001); United States v. Williams, 128 F.3d 1128, 1133-34 (7th Cir.1997) (collecting cases), and § 5861(d) is a legitimate exercise of the congressional power to tax because it promotes the registration and taxation of firearms in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, see United States v. Copus, 93 F.3d 269, 275-76 (7th Cir.1996).

Counsel also contemplates a challenge to the district court’s decision to admit at trial certain evidence regarding where Kruger lived. When police officers opened the bag in Kruger’s father’s apartment, they found not only the shotgun but also Kruger’s clothes and his state identification card. Kruger was not present when the shotgun was found, however, and his defense at trial was that it belonged not to him but to one of the many other people who frequented the apartment. Indeed, the evidence at trial included Kruger’s father’s assertion that Kruger was not living with him when the officers found the gun. Kruger, though, was on parole when the gun was recovered, and so to combat his defense the government sought to introduce testimony from Kruger’s parole officer that Kruger had given state officials his father’s address as his own, and that the officer had often visited Kruger at the father’s apartment. Over Kruger’s objection that the testimony would unfairly [517]*517prejudice him. see Fed.R.Evid. 403 (evidence should be excluded if its probative value is substantially outweighed by danger of unfaii' prejudice), the district court ruled the proffered testimony admissible but also offered Kruger a way out: stipulate that he lived at his father’s apartment, and the parole officer could not testify.

Kruger chose not to stipulate, and the parole officer testified. We would review for an abuse of discretion the district court’s decision to admit that testimony. See United States v. Anifowoshe, 307 F.3d 643, 649 (7th Cir.2002). Here, the district court recognized that the testimony was highly probative of Kruger’s possession of the shotgun; in fact, establishing that Kruger resided where police found the gun could have been enough to convict him under a constructive possession theory. See United States v. Quilling, 261 F.3d 707, 712 (7th Cir.2001) (finding sufficient evidence of constructive possession where ammunition was found at defendant’s residence); United States v. Richardson, 208 F.3d 626, 632 (7th Cir.2000) (finding constructive possession when a defendant admitted being caretaker and landlord of residence, medicine bottles with defendant’s name were found at residence, and defendant received mail at residence). See also United States v. Boykin, 986 F.2d 270, 274 (8th Cir.1993) (constructive possession established when contraband was seized at defendant’s residence). Furthermore, because Kruger’s father denied that Kruger lived with him, and Kruger himself opted not to testify, the parole officer’s testimony was the best and perhaps only way for the government to prove that Kruger resided where the gun was found. See Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 183, 117 S.Ct. 644, 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997) (noting that district court properly should consider evidentiary alternatives, such as defendant’s offer to stipulate, when deciding whether evidence’s potential for unfair prejudice outweighs its probative value).

Against the testimony’s high probative value, the district judge had to weigh its potential to unfairly prejudice Kruger by revealing that he had a criminal background requiring supervision by a parole officer. See Fed.R.Evid. 403.

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Related

Miranda v. Arizona
384 U.S. 436 (Supreme Court, 1966)
Anders v. California
386 U.S. 738 (Supreme Court, 1967)
Taylor v. United States
495 U.S. 575 (Supreme Court, 1990)
Old Chief v. United States
519 U.S. 172 (Supreme Court, 1997)
United States v. Carl Leibowitz
857 F.2d 373 (Seventh Circuit, 1988)
United States v. Louis Boykin
986 F.2d 270 (Eighth Circuit, 1993)
United States v. Larry J. Copus
93 F.3d 269 (Seventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. James R. Wagner
103 F.3d 551 (Seventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Alton Mills
122 F.3d 346 (Seventh Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Dennis J. Williams
128 F.3d 1128 (Seventh Circuit, 1997)
United States v. David Aldaco
201 F.3d 979 (Seventh Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Clarence Richardson, Jr.
208 F.3d 626 (Seventh Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Brian K. McMutuary and Dante A. Grier
217 F.3d 477 (Seventh Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Evan Woods
233 F.3d 482 (Seventh Circuit, 2000)
United States v. Rodney E. Hemmings
258 F.3d 587 (Seventh Circuit, 2001)
United States v. Gary C. Quilling
261 F.3d 707 (Seventh Circuit, 2001)

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75 F. App'x 514, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-kruger-ca7-2003.