Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: The Limits of Constructive Possession

seventh circuitThe Seventh Circuit had only one new opinion in a criminal case last week, but, fortunately, it was an interesting one.  Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), it is a federal crime for felons to possess a firearm.  Proof of the crime is easy enough when a felon is found actually carrying a gun.  But what if the gun is nowhere on his person, but merely, say, in his home? 

In practice, the federal courts have interpreted the law expansively so as to encompass a broad range of circumstances beyond actual possession.  Thus, under the doctrine of “constructive possession,” a felon may indeed be convicted based on the discovery of a firearm in his home. 

But,  as the Seventh Circuit made clear last week in United States v. Katz (No. 08-2341), even the doctrine of constructive possession has its limits. 

Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: The Limits of Constructive Possession

Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: What Can Be Inferred From a Lie?

seventh-circuit51

When a person is caught in a lie, we normally assume that he is covering something up.  But, if a defendant in a criminal case lies on the witness stand, is it fair to assume that he actually did what he was accused of doing?  Such was the question in United States v. Edwards (No. 08-1124).

Edwards was arrested after making arrangments to sell crack to a government informant.  The intended sale did not actually take place, but that is no barrier to conviction for drug trafficking.  And, once convicted, a drug dealer becomes responsible under the federal sentencing guidelines for the entire quantity of drugs he has ever sold that counts as “relevant conduct.”  (For an earlier post on the pitfalls of relevant conduct, see here.)  In order to establish the amount that Edwards sold, the sentencing judge relied on, among other things, $765 in cash that Edwards was carrying at the time of his arrest.  Edwards tried to explain away the cash with an unsubstantiated and seemingly implausible story about selling his minivan, but the judge was not convinced.  If the minivan story was fabricated, then Edwards must have earned the money from selling crack, right?  The sentencing judge concluded as much, and increased Edwards’ drug quantity accordingly.

On appeal, however, the Seventh Circuit held that the judge moved to this conclusion too quickly. 

Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: What Can Be Inferred From a Lie?

Seventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: Carrying Unloaded Gun During Bank Robbery Puts Teller’s Life in Jeopardy

seventh circuitSimple bank robbery carries a maximum sentence of twenty years, but armed bank robbery has an enhanced maximum of twenty-five.  Should a robbery be considered armed, though, when the robber carries an unloaded weapon? 

It turns out that the armed bank robbery statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(d), can be satisfied in either of two different ways.  First, a robber qualifies for increased punishment by committing an assault.  As the Seventh Circuit indicated many years ago in United States v. Smith, 103 F.3d 600 (7th Cir. 1996), the assault prong of the statute is satisfied when a teller has a reasonable fear of imminent bodily injury.  Brandishing a gun — loaded or unloaded — seems almost certain to create such a fear.

The second prong, though, raises a closer question. 

Continue ReadingSeventh Circuit Criminal Case of the Week: Carrying Unloaded Gun During Bank Robbery Puts Teller’s Life in Jeopardy