United States v. Michael Modena

430 F. App'x 444
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedJuly 14, 2011
Docket10-1377
StatusUnpublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 430 F. App'x 444 (United States v. Michael Modena) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Sixth 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. Michael Modena, 430 F. App'x 444 (6th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

SUTTON, Circuit Judge.

A federal jury convicted Michael John Modena for unlawfully possessing a firearm. Each of the challenges to his conviction and sentence lack merit, and accordingly we affirm.

I.

In 2008, Michigan State Police officers investigated Modena for filing fraudulent statements with the Michigan Secretary of State. See Mich. Comp. Laws § 440.9501(6). In accordance with a state search warrant, officers searched Modena’s residence and discovered a nine-millimeter pistol, a bolt-action rifle and ammunition.

A federal grand jury indicted Modena on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a domestic-violence misdemeanant in possession of a firearm. 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), (9). Modena pleaded not guilty, and a jury found him guilty of both counts. The district court granted the government’s motion to vacate the § 922(g)(9) conviction, calculated the guidelines range at 41 to 51 months and imposed a 72-month sentence.

*446 II.

Subject-Matter Jurisdiction. At his arraignment and initial pretrial conference, Modena challenged the subject-matter jurisdiction of the district court, arguing that the Michigan county that issued the warrant was not “constitutionally chartered,” R.216 at 9, depriving the court of jurisdiction over his case. Modena does not press the merits of this jurisdictional argument on appeal but instead claims that the trial court erred by failing to consider it. That is not true: The magistrate judge directly rejected the argument, noting that he “d[id]n’t see how any defect in the county’s structure ... has any effect on” the court’s jurisdiction. R.216 at 10.

Prosecutorial Misconduct. Several courts have held, and the government agrees, see R.155 at 1-2, that the subdivisions of § 922(g) do not support separate sentences for a single criminal act. See, e.g., United States v. Richardson, 439 F.3d 421, 422 (8th Cir.2006) (en banc) (per curiam); United States v. Munoz-Romo, 989 F.2d 757, 759-60 (5th Cir.1993); cf. United States v. Throneburg, 921 F.2d 654, 657 (6th Cir.1990) (separate counts under § 922(g) for possessing ammunition and a firearm merge for sentencing). A district court thus cannot impose multiple punishments on a defendant who commits one act of possession yet is both a felon and a domestic-violence misdemeanant.

Modena accuses the government of prosecutorial misconduct for charging him with one count of § 922(g)(1) and one count of § 922(g)(9), knowing that Modena could not be sentenced on both counts. Yet the Supreme Court has approved this approach: “the Government may seek a multiple-count indictment” for duplicitous counts even though “the accused may not suffer two convictions or sentences on that indictment.” Ball v. United States, 470 U.S. 856, 865, 105 S.Ct. 1668, 84 L.Ed.2d 740 (1985). That is what happened here, and Modena cites no authority to suggest the constitutional analysis changes when the prosecutor knows ahead of time that this may happen.

Ineffective Assistance. Modena initially chose to represent himself before the district court, but on the day of trial requested that his standby counsel, Richard Zambón, represent him. The court granted Modena’s request, and Zambón agreed to the appointment. In Zambon’s first act as defense counsel, he stipulated to Modena’s prior felony and domestic-violence misdemeanor convictions. Modena claims Zambón provided ineffective assistance when he stipulated to the convictions. We “typically will not review a claim of ineffective assistance on direct appeal except in rare cases where the error is apparent from the existing record.” United States v. Lopez-Medina, 461 F.3d 724, 737 (6th Cir.2006). Modena offers no good reason for departing from that practice here. His recourse is to file a motion pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2255.

Hybrid Representation. Modena complains that the trial court violated his right to hybrid representation by prohibiting him from splitting trial responsibilities with Zambón. Yet the Constitution provides no such right. See McKaskle v. Wiggins, 465 U.S. 168, 183, 104 S.Ct. 944, 79 L.Ed.2d 122 (1984) (“Faretta [v. California, 422 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 2525, 45 L.Ed.2d 562 (1975) ] does not require a trial judge to permit ‘hybrid’ representation.”); United States v. Treff 924 F.2d 975, 979 n. 6 (10th Cir.1991).

Requested Forms. Before trial, Modena requested from the court 79 subpoena forms, 12 subpoena duces tecum forms, 5 blank arrest warrants, 5 deposition forms and several IRS tax forms. The district court denied his request and *447 directed him to seek help from his standby counsel to obtain any necessary forms. Modena argues this decision violated his First Amendment right to access the courts and his Sixth Amendment right to present a defense. “In order to state a claim for interference with access to the courts, however, [an individual] must show actual injury,” Harbin-Bey v. Rutter, 420 F.3d 571, 578 (6th Cir.2005), and Modena has identified no argument he was unable to raise or any evidence he could not introduce due to the district court’s order. As for the Sixth Amendment, the right to present a defense does not include the right to unlimited copies of whatever forms a defendant wants. No error occurred.

Sentencing. Modena challenges the procedural reasonableness of his sentence on two grounds: (1) the district court gave no “rationale” or “specific findings of fact” supporting its enhancements for possessing five firearms and for obstructing justice; and (2) the district court’s twenty-one-month upward variance lacked support in the record. Both arguments come to naught.

Modena challenged his two-level enhancement for possessing five firearms on the ground that the “grand jury indictment only listed two firearms.” R.206 at 19. The district court correctly noted that “[f]or the purposes of sentencing ... the three additional firearms are an entirely separate matter.” R.206 at 19. “[T]he contemporaneous, or nearly contemporaneous, possession of uncharged firearms is relevant conduct in the context of a felon-in-possession prosecution.” United States v. Phillips,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Joshua Grant
15 F.4th 452 (Sixth Circuit, 2021)
United States v. Marlon Oliver
535 F. App'x 474 (Sixth Circuit, 2013)
United States v. Ocampo
919 F. Supp. 2d 898 (E.D. Michigan, 2013)
Modena v. United States
181 L. Ed. 2d 436 (Supreme Court, 2011)
Michael Modena v. United States
450 F. App'x 119 (Third Circuit, 2011)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
430 F. App'x 444, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-michael-modena-ca6-2011.