United States v. Parsons

472 F. Supp. 2d 1169, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9331, 2007 WL 412236
District Court, N.D. Iowa·Decided February 7, 2007·No. CR06-4065-MWB·Published·Cited by 3 cases

Opinion

ORDER REGARDING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR RETURN OF PROPERTY

BENNETT, District Judge.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND .1170

A. Procedural Background.1170

B. Factual Background.1171

II. LEGAL ANALYSIS.1172

A. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g) .1172

B. Balancing of Equities.1174

III. CONCLUSION. 1178

I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

A. Procedural Background

On July 27, 2006, an indictment was returned against defendant James J. Parsons. In Count 1, defendant Parsons is charged with possession of machine guns, specifically a German World War II machine gun model number MG34, serial number 889, a Sten machine gun, serial number 74118, and a Browning machine gun, model number 1919, no serial number, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(o) and 924(a)(2). In Count II, defendant Parsons is charged with possessing three hand grenades and three machine guns, the same three machine guns charged in Count I, which were not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, in violation of §§ 5841, 5861(d) and 5871. Defendant Parsons subsequently appeared before United States Magistrate Judge Paul A. Zoss and entered a plea of guilty to Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment. On December 22, 2006, the court accepted Judge Zoss’s Report and Recommendation, and accepted defendant Parsons’s plea of guilty in this case to Counts 1 and 2 of the indictment. On January 19, 2007, the court sentenced defendant Parsons to concurrent terms of imprisonment of 366 days.

Before he was sentenced, defendant Parsons filed a Motion For Return Of Property (# 26). In his motion, filed pursuant to Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(g), defendant Parsons seeks to designate that his firearm collection should be given to a friend, Louis W. Aloia. 1 The government filed a timely response to defendant Parsons’s motion.

*1171 B. Factual Background

The following facts are drawn from defendant Parsons’s Presentence Investigation Report and from exhibits and witnesses presented at the time of defendant Parsons’s sentencing hearing. 2

Defendant Parsons is a 67 year old chiropractor who has resided and practiced Chiropractics in Miami since 1973. He is a longtime collector of firearms. On July 20, 2006, defendant Parsons was a passenger in a Budget Rental truck which was stopped by an officer with the Iowa Department of Transportation, Office of Motor Vehicle Enforcement in order to ensure that the truck had the appropriate paperwork. The truck was being driven by defendant Parsons’s fiancee, Sherril Gold. Defendant Parsons and Gold explained that they had rented the truck and were in the process of moving their personal household belongings from Florida to Montana. Gold provided the officer with the truck’s rental agreement. After defendant Parsons refused to consent to a load inspection, the officer proceeded to have a canine unit conduct a drug sniff of the vehicle. After the canine alerted on the vehicle, the officer cut the lock on the door of the truck. 3 Law enforcement officers subsequently obtained a search warrant for the truck. Defendant Parsons then told law enforcement officers that he had three machine guns in the truck and one pound of black powder. Defendant Parsons told the officers that there were no hand grenades in the truck.

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United States v. Parsons, 472 F. Supp. 2d 1169, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9331, 2007 WL 412236 (N.D. Iowa 2007).

472 F. Supp. 2d 1169 (United States v. Parsons) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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