The Honorable Jean C. Hamilton, Chief Judge, United States District Court for 1

the Eastern District of Missouri.

 United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

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No. 97-1345

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United States of America, *

 *

Appellee, *

 * Appeal from the United States

v. * District Court for the

 * Eastern District of Missouri.

Lamont Netter, *

 * [UNPUBLISHED]

Appellant. *

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 Submitted: July 7, 1997

 Filed: August 15, 1997

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Before BOWMAN, MAGILL, and LOKEN, Circuit Judges.

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PER CURIAM.

Lamont Netter appeals the sentence imposed on him by the District Court at

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resentencing following remand. We affirm.

When authorities searched Lamont Netter&s apartment following his arrest in

connection with an arranged cocaine transaction in a parking lot, they found twenty-one

ounces of cocaine in a bedroom closet, one kilogram of cocaine underneath a bed in the
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same room, and a loaded .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol lying beneath the bed next

to the kilogram of cocaine. Netter pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine with intent to

distribute, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (1994), and a jury convicted him of

using or carrying a firearm in relation to the cocaine-trafficking offense, in violation of

18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1) (1994). After the firearm conviction was affirmed on appeal, see

United States v. Netter, 62 F.3d 232 (8th Cir. 1995), our judgment was vacated and the

matter was remanded to us for further consideration in light of Bailey v. United States,

116 S. Ct. 501 (1995), see Netter v. United States, 116 S. Ct. 1411 (1996). On

remand, we reversed the firearm conviction, vacated the sentence on the drug count,

and remanded the case to the District Court to consider whether to assess a sentencing

enhancement under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2D1.1(b)(1) (1995)

(permitting increase of two levels if firearm was possessed). See U.S. v. Netter, No.

95-1332 (8th Cir. Oct. 7, 1996) (judgment reversing, vacating, and remanding). The

District Court concluded that the enhancement was warranted, recalculated the

Guidelines range applicable to the drug count with the enhancement, and resentenced

Netter at the bottom of the revised range to 121 months' imprisonment and 4 years'

supervised release. On appeal, Netter challenges the firearm enhancement to his drug

sentence. 

The commentary to § 2D1.1 explains that the two-level enhancement should be

applied if the weapon was present, unless it was clearly improbable that the weapon

was connected with the offense. See U.S. Sentencing Guidelines Manual § 2D1.1,

commentary (n.3) (1995). The government has the burden of proving by a

preponderance of the evidence both that the weapon was present and that it is probable

that the weapon was connected with the drug offense. See United States v.

McCracken, 110 F.3d 535, 541 (8th Cir. 1997). Here, the gun was found hidden

beneath a bed in Netter&s apartment next to a significant quantity of cocaine--the same

type of drug he pleaded guilty to possessing with intent to distribute. The District

Court did not clearly err in assessing the enhancement. See id. at 542 (standard of 
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review; affirming enhancement where firearms and drugs were found in defendants'

residence).

Accordingly, we affirm.

A true copy.

Attest:

CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.