U.S. v. Bradford
| Decision Date | 29 April 1996 |
| Docket Number | No. 94-2590,94-2590 |
| Citation | 78 F.3d 1216 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Sammie L. BRADFORD, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit |
Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois, Danville Division, No. 94 CR 20006; Harold A. Baker, Judge.
Lawrence Beaumont (argued), Office of Atty. Gen., Urbana, IL, for U.S.
Robert A. Handelsman (argued), Chicago, IL, for Sammie L. Bradford.
Before CUMMINGS, COFFEY and RIPPLE, Circuit Judges.
Sammie L. Bradford was arrested for speeding in Decatur, Illinois; the police found a loaded firearm in his vehicle. Bradford was indicted on one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), and he entered a plea of not guilty. After the district court held a hearing and denied Bradford's motion to suppress, a jury trial was held; the jury found him guilty of the crime charged. The defendant appeals the denial of his motion to suppress, his conviction, and his sentence. We affirm.
At the suppression hearing, Police Officer Daniel Hassinger testified that on September 9, 1993 he was on radar traffic enforcement duty in Decatur, Illinois and observed a vehicle pass him travelling at a speed of 50 miles per hour in a 30 mile zone. He pulled the vehicle over, advised the driver that he was stopping him for speeding, and directed him to produce his driver's license; the driver, the defendant Sammie Bradford, responded that he did not have the license with him. The officer asked for I.D., his full name and date of birth. Hassinger radioed the dispatcher and gave him Bradford's name and birthdate, to allow him to determine if the defendant was a licensed motor vehicle operator and if he was wanted for any crime. The dispatcher replied that Bradford did not have a valid driver's license. 1
At this point, Officer Hassinger informed Bradford that he was under arrest for speeding and driving without a license and instructed the defendant to step out of his vehicle. The officer testified that Bradford appeared "very nervous" and he was fearful that the defendant "was going to run from me," and so he requested back up help. Before back-up assistance arrived, Hassinger attempted to cuff Bradford, but the defendant resisted arrest and fled from the scene. Officer Hassinger pursued Bradford and tackled him, causing the defendant to fall; at this time according to Hassinger, the defendant "struck" the officer and escaped. Hassinger once again chased Bradford on foot for approximately one block, but lost sight of him and returned to the arrest scene minutes later.
While Hassinger was pursuing Bradford, Officer Robert Whitten arrived at the scene to assist and observed that the engine of the defendant's car was running. He entered the vehicle to turn off the ignition, and noticed "a silver object laying on the floorboard just beneath the seat, which I recognized to be the handle of a gun." He removed the weapon from the car, examined it, withdrew the magazine, and returned the gun and the magazine in the vehicle where he had discovered them. Thereafter, the officers seized the weapon, inspected it for prints and found an imprint of Bradford's finger on the magazine. 2
While still at the scene of the arrest, in the presence of Whitten, Officer Hassinger again called the dispatcher and requested information concerning the ownership of the vehicle Bradford was driving. He was informed that the car was registered to Ms. Rose Brown, whose address was in the immediate vicinity of where the defendant was stopped. Hassinger proceeded to Brown's home, where he was joined by officer Carl Coleman. The officers spoke briefly with Brown who confirmed that she had loaned her car to the defendant. The officers searched Brown's home with her permission, but Bradford was not on the premises.
After returning to the traffic stop scene, Officer Hassinger requested of Coleman that he drive back to Brown's residence, pick her up, and convey her to her vehicle. Upon Coleman's arrival at Brown's residence, he observed Bradford, the defendant, sitting in another car, a parked white Oldsmobile Delta. At this time, some thirty minutes after Bradford's initial arrest, Coleman took him into custody.
Bradford, who was on parole for an attempted murder (1986 conviction) at the time of the traffic stop and had previously been convicted of burglary and rape (convictions in 1983 and 1978, respectively), was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm. Bradford filed a motion to suppress the evidence, asserting that the events that ensued after the officer was informed that Bradford was not a licensed driver were unlawful because Bradford did, in fact, have a valid license (the officer learned the license was valid only after Bradford had been taken into custody). 3 However, Bradford did not contest that his speeding arrest was improper.
The district court denied the motion to suppress, finding that the police officer's speeding arrest was proper, and that because Officer Hassinger reasonably believed the defendant did not have a valid driver's license, it was lawful for him to take Bradford into custody, according to proper police procedure. The court also determined that Officer Whitten discovered the gun in plain view on the floor, partially under the driver's seat, as he entered the car to turn off the ignition switch.
At trial, Bradford testified 4 that on September 3, 1993, he was arrested while driving a car that belonged to his friend Rosie Brown. He stated that he was taking the vehicle to a carwash for her and that when he opened the glove compartment to place some cassette tapes inside, he discovered a gun. Bradford asserted that he picked up the weapon and the clip, which was lying on top of the firearm, to ascertain if it was real. When he discovered that it was real, he panicked because he knew that as a convicted felon, he was prohibited by law from possessing a firearm. At this time, he picked up the gun, inserted the clip, and put the weapon in his jacket pocket, and went to a telephone to call Brown. Bradford was unable to reach Brown, so he returned to the vehicle, placed the firearm under the driver's seat, and proceeded to drive to her home. During this journey, Bradford testified, he was pulled over for speeding.
On the night of Bradford's arrest, Rose Brown told Officers Hassinger and Whitten that she was unaware that there was a gun in her vehicle. At trial, however, Brown contradicted this previous statement and testified that she was aware of the firearm's presence and that she had obtained the pistol from a "friend" named Stan in late February or early March of 1993. She asserted that she had placed the gun in her car, and planned to take it to her mother's so that her eleven year old son would not have access to it in her house. 5
During the government's rebuttal, Larry Shaw, a federally licensed firearms dealer, testified and identified the pistol found in Brown's car by its serial number as one he purchased from its manufacturer on July 1, 1993, contradicting Brown's testimony that "Stan" had given her the weapon in March, 1993. Shaw testified that several days after the July 1 purchase, he loaned the weapon to a friend of his to display it to a number of potential purchasers. Shaw stated that the firearm was stolen from his friend, while it was in his friend's possession.
The jury returned a verdict of guilty, finding that Bradford was a convicted felon in possession of a firearm on September 3, 1993. The trial judge accepted the jury's verdict and entered judgment finding Bradford guilty of violating of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The defendant was sentenced as an armed career criminal pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 924(e) and U.S.S.G. § 4B1.4(a), because of his three prior felony convictions (rape, burglary, and attempted murder). Accordingly, his offense level was 33. The defendant also had thirteen criminal history points, which resulted in a criminal history category of VI. 6
The Probation Officer who conducted the Presentence Investigation Report ("PSR") "identified no factors that would warrant a departure from the guideline range," and the district court agreed with that assessment. The offense level of 33 combined with the criminal history category of VI yielded a sentence range of 235-293 months imprisonment. The sentencing judge ordered Bradford imprisoned for a term of 235 months, the lower end of the guideline range, and further ordered that it be followed by 3 years supervised release, and that the defendant pay a mandatory $50 special assessment.
Bradford raises the following issues on appeal: (1) whether the district court committed clear error in denying his motion to suppress; (2) whether his conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) () is unconstitutional because the government failed to prove that his possession of this particular weapon affected interstate commerce; (3) whether, as Bradford interprets the sentence imposed, the district judge erroneously concluded that he was without authority to depart downward from the guideline sentence range; and (4) whether his trial counsel was constitutionally ineffective for failing to request either a downward departure pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 4A1.3 (), or a reduction in offense level for acceptance of responsibility pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 3E1.1.
A. MOTION TO SUPPRESS
Based upon one single question asked by defense counsel and answered by Officer Hassinger within 250 pages of transcript at the hearing, Bradford argues that the trial judge's denial of his motion to suppress was improper. The question and answer are as...
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