U.S. v. Edwards

• Decision Date: 18 July 1996
• Docket Number: No. 95-3488,95-3488
• Citation: 90 F.3d 199
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert W. EDWARDS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Seventh Circuit

Page 199

90 F.3d 199

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Robert W. EDWARDS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 95-3488.

United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit.

Argued April 11, 1996.

Decided July 18, 1996.

Eric J. Klumb (argued), Office of U.S. Atty., Milwaukee, WI, for petitioner-appellee U.S.

David Ziemer (argued), Milwaukee, WI, for defendant-appellant Robert W. Edwards.

Before FLAUM, EASTERBROOK, and DIANE P. WOOD, Circuit Judges.

FLAUM, Circuit Judge.

Robert W. Edwards pled guilty to one count of possession of an unregistered sawed-off shotgun less than eighteen inches in length, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d). He later moved to withdraw his guilty plea, claiming the government failed to offer proof at the rule 11 colloquy that Edwards knew of the characteristics of the shotgun that brought it within the ambit of the statute. Edwards argued such knowledge was an element of the charged crime under the Supreme Court's recent decision in Staples v. United States, 511 U.S. 600, 114 S.Ct. 1793, 128 L.Ed.2d 608 (1994). The district court denied Edward's motion. We reverse and remand. ¹

I.

On April 24, 1995, the Green Bay, Wisconsin police were called to Edwards' house to investigate a domestic dispute. When the police arrived, they were told by his wife that Edwards was drunk, had been arguing with her son, and had made threats with a gun. She related that Edwards had gone into a bedroom and refused to come out and that he had a .22 caliber pistol and a rifle of some sort in the room with him.

The police attempted to talk with Edwards and repeatedly asked him to come out of the room; he repeatedly refused. Edwards was clearly despondent and he told the officers several times that he wanted to die. After a while, Edwards came partly out of the room with a sawed-off shotgun. He indicated that he wanted to die and he started to raise the gun, but then he threw it into the hallway and retreated into the room. Later the defendant came out and showed the police a .22 caliber pistol and then quickly returned to the room. The officers heard the pistol go off once before Edwards threw the gun and a clip into the hallway. Over two hours after the stand-off began, the officers finally forced Edwards out of the room using tear gas.

Edwards, who had previously been convicted of a felony, was arrested and charged in a two-count indictment with a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g), which prohibits possession of a firearm by a felon, and with a violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861(d), which prohibits the possession of an unregistered shotgun with a barrel less than 18 inches in length. On the day trial was to begin, Edwards decided to plead guilty. Edwards was allowed to choose the count he wanted to plead to and chose count II. Count I, the felon in possession charge, was dismissed. The government proceeded to present its offer of proof on count II, essentially recounting the chain of events recited above. In addition, the government stated that it would have introduced the sawed-off shotgun, which had a barrel of less than 18 inches, and a certificate of nonregistration, which would have demonstrated that the gun had not been registered to Edwards in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

The government did not offer any proof as to Edwards' knowledge of the characteristics of the shotgun, in particular the government did not argue that Edwards knew the barrel was less than 18 inches long. It is clear that the government did not believe it was an element of the charged crime, as it stated at the change of plea hearing:

The elements of proof that the Government would have had to sustain beyond a reasonable doubt are as follows: First, the defendant possessed a firearm, namely a sawed off shotgun, with a barrel of less than 18 inches; and second, that the firearm was not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.

After hearing the government's offer of proof and discussing the plea with Edwards, the court accepted the plea as knowingly and voluntarily made.

After the change of plea hearing, but prior to sentencing, the government became aware of the Supreme Court's decision in Staples v. United States, 511 U.S. 600, 114 S.Ct. 1793, 128 L.Ed.2d 608 (1994), and brought the decision to the attention of defense counsel. Based on Staples, Edwards moved to withdraw his plea, arguing that the plea was not intelligently made because Edwards was not informed that the government had to prove he knew of the characteristics of the shotgun that made it illegal. Edwards also pointed out that the government's offer of proof provided no basis for a finding that Edwards had such knowledge. The government conceded that Edwards' plea could not be considered intelligently made if Staples required knowledge of the particular characteristics of the weapon; however, it argued that Staples did not mandate such knowledge in the case of a sawed-off shotgun. The district court agreed and denied Edwards' motion to withdraw his plea. The court then proceeded to sentence Edwards to a prison term of 115 months.

II.

Section 5861(d) of the National Firearms Act makes it unlawful for any person to receive or possess a "firearm," as that term is defined in the Act, that is not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. It has been recognized that the statutory definition of "firearm" is much narrower than the common definition of the term. Many weapons ordinarily thought of as firearms in the ordinary sense of the term are not included in the Act's definition of "firearm." See United States v. Ross, 917 F.2d 997, 999-1000 (7th Cir.1990); United States v. Barr, 32 F.3d 1320, 1323 n. 4 (8th Cir.1994). However, one firearm within the statutory definition is the one Edwards was charged with possessing--"a shotgun having a barrel or barrels of less than 18 inches in length." 26 U.S.C. § 5845.

A.

In Staples v. United States, 511 U.S. 600, ----, 114 S.Ct. 1793, 1799, 128 L.Ed.2d 608 (1994), the Supreme Court confronted the issue of "whether the defendant must know of the particular characteristics that make his weapon a statutory firearm," in order to be convicted under § 5861(d). Specifically, the question in Staples was whether the government had to prove that the defendant knew the gun he possessed had automatic firing capability, which made it a "machinegun" within the meaning of the firearms statute. The gun at issue was manufactured as a semi-automatic weapon (which is not a "firearm" within the scope of the Act), but was internally modified so that it functioned as an automatic weapon. Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1796. Staples claimed he was ignorant of the modification and of the automatic nature of the gun. He argued that this fact should have shielded him from liability, since he was unaware of the feature that brought the gun within the scope of the statute. The district court and the Court of Appeals held that the government had to prove only that the defendant was aware that he possessed a firearm as that term is commonly used. In fact, the district court specifically instructed the jury that "[t]he government need not prove the defendant knows he's dealing with a weapon possessing every last characteristic [which subjects it] to the regulation." Id.

The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the government should have been required to prove that Staples knew of the features that brought the gun within the scope of the Act. Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1804. In so holding, the Court rejected the government's argument that all guns are dangerous devices that put gun owners on notice of possible regulation, and hence that as long as it was demonstrated that the defendant was aware he possessed a firearm in the general sense of the term, it was unnecessary to prove that the defendant knew of the particular characteristics of the gun that subjected it to regulation. The Court found that, given the "long tradition of widespread lawful gun ownership by private individuals in this country," and the fact that "guns in general are not deleterious devices or products or obnoxious waste materials," gun owners generally are not put "on notice that they stand 'in responsible relation to a public danger.' " Id. at ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1800 (internal citation omitted). The Court rebuffed the government's claim that "one would hardly be surprised to learn that owning a gun is not an innocent act," stating "[t]hat proposition is simply not supported by common experience." Id. The Court explained that, in some cases, even dangerous items can "be so commonplace and generally available that we would not consider them to alert individuals to the likelihood of strict regulation." Id. The Court found this to be true of guns in general.

In light of the commonplace, innocent ownership of many guns, the Court was unwilling to dispense with the mens rea requirement that the defendant know of the particular characteristics that subjected his weapon to regulation. The Court was clearly concerned that without such a knowledge element § 5861(d) would criminalize a "broad range of apparently innocent conduct." Id. at ----, ----, 114 S.Ct. at 1799, 1802. In other words, the Court reasoned that unless the defendant knows of the particular offending characteristics of the gun, he may simply believe he possesses a commonplace, "innocent" firearm; and given the traditional and widespread ownership of such guns, he would not be on notice of possible regulation. This concern was aptly demonstrated by the facts in Staples, where there was no external indication of the automatic nature of gun:

It is unthinkable to us that Congress intended to subject such law-abiding, well-intentioned citizens to a possible ten-year term of imprisonment if ... what they genuinely and reasonably believed was a conventional semiautomatic [weapon] turns out to have worn down into or been secretly modified to be a...