U.S. v. Caldwell
| Citation | 423 F.3d 754 |
| Decision Date | 12 September 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 04-1929.,04-1929. |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Martin CALDWELL, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (7th Circuit) |
Brandon Spurlock (argued), Office of the United States Attorney, Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellee.
Nishay K. Sanan (argued), Brandan Shiller (argued), Chicago, IL, for Defendant-Appellant.
Before FLAUM, Chief Judge, and BAUER and EVANS, Circuit Judges.
A grand jury charged Martin Caldwell in September 2003 with two counts of being a felon in possession of firearms. Caldwell proceeded to trial and was convicted on both counts. The district court sentenced him to 57 months' imprisonment. On appeal, Caldwell challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, two evidentiary rulings by the district court, and his sentence. We affirm his conviction and order a limited remand with respect to his sentence in accordance with the procedure outlined in United States v. Paladino, 401 F.3d 471 (7th Cir.2005).
Caldwell's most recent contact with the police stemmed from the August 1998 kidnapping of his mother. Caldwell called the police for assistance when the kidnappers demanded a ransom of $250,000 in cash. Though Caldwell told the kidnappers that he could not obtain that much cash, he made several phone calls and raised approximately $100,000 in less than an hour.1 The ransom was dropped off at a prearranged location, Caldwell's mother was released, and the kidnapping went unsolved. During the incident, Caldwell informed police that he lived at 4758 S. Lawler Avenue in Chicago.
The circumstances of the kidnapping, including Caldwell's ability to raise a substantial amount of cash in a short period of time despite apparently limited means, led the police to investigate Caldwell. Police had been conducting surveillance of Caldwell's home when Mario Young, an associate of Caldwell's, was arrested on heroin charges on September 17, 1998. When arrested, Young was driving a Ford Crown Victoria with 76 grams of heroin in a hidden compartment. Young informed the police that he got the drugs and the car from Caldwell. He also told the police that he had brought Caldwell $10,000 the prior day as partial payment for the heroin, and that Caldwell had been supplying him with heroin for approximately six months. Armed with the information provided by Young and a number of other indications of involvement in the illegal drug trade, such as the suspicious circumstances surrounding the kidnapping and the fact that Caldwell had ten vehicles registered in his name despite reporting very limited income on his tax returns, federal agents applied for a search warrant of Caldwell's home. A magistrate judge granted the application, and the ensuing search of Caldwell's residence conducted on September 18, 1998, turned up three guns, ammunition, approximately $57,000 in cash, and marijuana. Specifically, a loaded .45 handgun with an obliterated serial number was found inside a bedroom nightstand drawer, and a nine-millimeter handgun and a two-shot derringer were found inside a secret compartment of a Monte Carlo parked in the garage.
On September 17, 2003, Caldwell was charged with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922. Caldwell filed two pre-trial motions that are relevant to this appeal. First, on Fourth Amendment grounds, he moved to suppress the evidence found during the search of his home. The district court denied the motion. Second, Caldwell filed a motion in limine to exclude any evidence of prior drug dealing and any evidence about the kidnapping of his mother. In response, the government agreed not to offer evidence about drug dealing, but argued that evidence regarding the kidnapping was relevant because it gave him a motive to possess firearms. The district court agreed and allowed the government to present evidence about the kidnapping.
Caldwell decided to test the government's evidence at trial. The parties stipulated to the fact that Caldwell had a prior felony conviction. In addition, it was largely undisputed that the firearms found at the Lawler residence had traveled in interstate commerce. As a result, the primary issue for trial was whether Caldwell possessed the firearms in question. The jury sided with the government on the issue, convicting Caldwell on both counts. The district judge sentenced him to 57 months' imprisonment, which represented the top of the applicable guidelines range. This appeal followed.
Caldwell first challenges the sufficiency of the government's evidence against him. When adjudicating a sufficiency of the evidence challenge, we will overturn a conviction "only if the record is devoid of evidence from which a reasonable jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." United States v. Curtis, 324 F.3d 501, 505 (7th Cir.2003). This burden is "nearly insurmountable." United States v. Johnson, 127 F.3d 625, 628 (7th Cir.1997).
To obtain a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), the government bore the burden of establishing beyond a reasonable doubt that: (1) Caldwell had a previous felony conviction; (2) he possessed the firearms in question; and (3) the firearms traveled in or affected interstate commerce. United States v. Alanis, 265 F.3d 576, 591 (7th Cir.2001). Caldwell concedes that the government carried its burden with respect to the first and third elements, but asserts that no rational trier of fact could find that he possessed the firearms.
"Possession may be either actual or constructive." United States v. Kitchen, 57 F.3d 516, 520 (7th Cir.1995). Because Caldwell was not in actual physical possession of the guns when his home was searched, the parties agree that the government had to prove constructive possession in this case. "Constructive possession exists when a person knowingly has the power and the intention at a given time to exercise dominion and control over an object, either directly, or through others." United States v. Quilling, 261 F.3d 707, 712 (7th Cir.2001).
The government introduced ample evidence to support a finding that Caldwell had constructive possession of the guns seized at 4758 S. Lawler. Indeed, the record reflects that: (1) the defendant owned the house where the weapons were found and had stated on previous occasions that he lived there; (2) Mario Young, who visited the defendant occasionally, testified that the defendant lived at 4758 S. Lawler; (3) the defendant's car was parked outside the residence on the day agents seized the firearms; (4) closing documents for the defendant's refinancing on the property indicated that the defendant was the sole borrower and the primary owner of the residence; (5) agents found recent utility bills addressed to the defendant at the Lawler address; (6) the defendant had furniture, dressers, a television set, bed, nightstand, clothing, numerous pairs of gym shoes, and food inside the residence; and (7) shortly before the time period charged in the indictment, Mario Young had seen the defendant with the same nine millimeter handgun later seized by government agents. The foregoing evidence provided the jury with a rational basis to conclude that the 4758 S. Lawler home was Caldwell's residence at the time in question, which is sufficient to establish that he had constructive possession of the firearms seized there. Kitchen, 57 F.3d at 521 ().
Caldwell also argues that the evidence was deficient in light of a statute of limitations problem. He points out that he was indicted on September 17, 2003, for firearms seized on September 18, 1998, dangerously close to the applicable five-year statute of limitations. 18 U.S.C. § 3282. The general rule is that the government may prove the offense conduct on any day before the indictment and within the statute of limitations. United States v. Leibowitz, 857 F.2d 373, 378 (7th Cir.1988). In this case, the government had to establish that Caldwell constructively possessed the firearms on either September 17, 1998 or September 18, 1998, as those were the only days within the limitations period that were also prior to the indictment and the seizure of the firearms. The indictment, however, was not that specific; Caldwell was charged with possessing the firearms "on or about September 18, 1998." In addition, the district court instructed the jury that the date of possession could be "reasonably close to [the date charged] but [the government] is not required to prove the alleged offenses happened on that exact date." Caldwell does not challenge the instruction; he contends only that the instruction "makes it cloudy on which date the jury did in fact rely."
We think that the indictment and jury instruction should have been more specific to assure that the jury would focus on whether he constructively possessed the weapons on dates within the limitations period. Nevertheless, Caldwell's argument fails to account for the heavy deference we give jury verdicts. We only overturn a jury verdict "when the record contains no evidence, regardless of how it is weighed, from which the jury could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." United States v. Fiore, 178 F.3d 917, 924 (7th Cir.1999). The pre-limitations period evidence, such as the evidence about the kidnapping and Young's testimony that he saw Caldwell with the nine millimeter in his lap, constituted probative circumstantial evidence that Caldwell had dominion and control of the firearms on either September 17 or 18, and the evidence that Young resided in the 4758 S. Lawler residence also indicated that Caldwell constructively possessed the guns on those dates. Although it is possible the jury decided the case in an impermissible fashion, that...
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