United States v. Pittman

129 F. App'x 917
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
DecidedApril 13, 2005
Docket03-6506
StatusUnpublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 129 F. App'x 917 (United States v. Pittman) 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. Pittman, 129 F. App'x 917 (6th Cir. 2005).

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

The defendant, Tamarcus Pittman, was convicted of being a felon in possession of ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), and was sentenced to 57 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. On appeal, he challenges the sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction, the admissibility of a statement he made to police at the time of his arrest, and the district court’s failure to declare a mistrial. Subsequent to the filing of briefs and the release of the Supreme Court’s opinion in United States v. Booker, — U.S.-, 125 S.Ct. 738, 160 L.Ed.2d 621 (2005), Pittman filed a supplemental brief also challenging his sentence on the basis of a two-level enhancement that was imposed for relevant conduct involving a weapon with an obliterated serial number, pointing out that his possession of that weapon had been contested at trial. We find no reversible error in connection with the jury’s verdict and the resulting judgment of conviction. However, we conclude that the sentencing order must be vacated and the matter remanded for re-sentencing under Booker.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

While the defendant’s residence, a duplex condominium, was under surveillance by officers from the Shelby County Sheriffs Office, Pittman was observed as he arrived riding on a motorcycle, closely followed by an SUV. The defendant walked into the house and re-emerged a few minutes later, walking toward the SUV. According one of the surveillance officers, the defendant then looked directly at the green Pontiac Grand Prix from which the officer was observing the defendant and abruptly went back into the house.

Two other officers participating in the surveillance next observed the defendant walk out a different door into the backyard and go to a fence separating the defendant’s yard from that of the adjoining unit. According to the officers, the defendant “wiggled” ”his way into a break in the fence, then walked over to the SUV, got in, and rode away as a passenger. Other officers acting as part of the surveillance team stopped the vehicle and arrested the defendant a few blocks away.

[919]*919The three officers who had observed the defendant enter and leave the residence obtained consent to search it from the owner, who was the defendant’s long-time “girlfriend” and the mother of his two children. In their search of the house, the officers found a box of 9mm ammunition in a dresser drawer in the couple’s bedroom. They also found a cell phone bill in the defendant’s name in the bedroom. In the backyard, at the broken point in the fence where the defendant had been observed, the police found a 9mm Uzi pistol, commonly referred to as a “Mach-11.” The pistol contained the same kind of ammunition that had been found in the dresser drawer.

During the booking process, the defendant made the following statement to the two officers who had observed him in the back yard of the house:

Y’all ain’t got nothing on me. I know you got wives and kids. You need to watch your back, watch out for your wives and kids. That Mach-11 I got ain’t nothing compared to what I do got. I got rocket launchers and tear gas. I’m not afraid to use them. You need to tell your partner in the green Grand Prix to quit riding around if he knows what’s good for him. Y’all are not the only ones with a team.

When one of the officers asked the defendant if he was making a threat, the defendant replied, “No. You take it as you want.”

At trial, the government offered this statement as evidence that the Mach-11 belonged to the defendant, positing that he knew that he was being followed and so had hidden it. The judge admitted the statement, over the defendant’s objection, reasoning that:

[T]he jury could infer that he’s saying, you know, you got that, but that ain’t nothing compared to what I could get, as if it is his.... Dot’s as if it is his. Secondly ... if, based upon [the defendant’s] recognition or understanding of who was in that green Grand Prix, took the action to — I mean, the jury could infer that was his Mach-11 that he took out to the yard and threw out there.

In addition to the gun and the ammunition that the police found and the defendant’s statement implying ownership of the Mach-11, the government produced the defendant’s girlfriend as a witness at trial. She testified that both the ammunition and the weapon belonged to Pittman, that the defendant lived with her, and that she had seen him with a Mach-11 pistol at some point in the past. On the other hand, the government also introduced a fingerprint analysis , that did not find the defendant’s prints on the gun and revealed someone else’s prints on the box of ammunition. The jury convicted the defendant on the indictment’s sole count charging Pittman with being a felon in possession of ammunition.

DISCUSSION

1. Sufficiency of the Evidence to Support the Verdict

The defendant argues that there was no direct evidence of his possession of the ammunition and that the proof did not establish constructive possession of the ammunition beyond a reasonable doubt. According to Pittman, the physical evidence and testimony offered by the government “merely raised a suspicion that the defendant possessed the box of ammunition.” He points to the fact that the police could not say definitely that he had placed the gun at the split in the fence, and that his girlfriend did not testify that she had ever seen him with the box of ammunition. The defendant also suggests that the girlfriend’s testimony was coerced by the threat of her being prosecuted for [920]*920possession of the ammunition and losing her children. Finally, Pittman argues that his statement implying his ownership of the gun, which contained the same kind of ammunition that was in the box, was improperly admitted.

When we review claims of insufficient evidence, we look to see “whether, after viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.” Zuern v. Tate, 336 F.3d 478, 482 (6th Cir.2003) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)). Criminal liability under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) may be found based on either actual or constructive possession. United States v. Schreane, 331 F.3d 548, 560 (6th Cir.), cert denied, 540 U.S. 973, 124 S.Ct. 448, 157 L.Ed.2d 323 (2003). “To establish constructive possession, the evidence must indicate ownership, dominion, or control over the contraband itself or the premises ... in which the contraband is concealed.” United States v. White, 932 F.2d 588, 589 (6th Cir.1991) (internal quotations omitted). “Circumstantial evidence may support a guilty verdict, even if the circumstantial evidence is inconclusive.” White, 932 F.2d at 590 (citing United States v. Stone,

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