Opinion ID: 814125
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Jury Instruction on Constructive Possession

Text: Dawson argues that his trial attorney’s performance was deficient as a result of his failure to object to the district court’s jury instruction on constructive possession. The government did not request a constructive possession instruction and it did not present evidence to support a theory of constructive possession. Nevertheless, the trial court instructed the jury that it could convict Dawson based on actual or constructive possession of the firearm at issue. Upon its review of Dawson’s habeas petition, the district court found that the constructive possession instruction constituted harmless error. No. 11-5021 Dawson v. United States Page 4 Relying upon United States v. James, 819 F.2d 674 (6th Cir. 1987), Dawson argues that the instruction constitutes reversible error. As stated in James, errors in jury instructions generally are harmless “unless it is more probable than not that the error materially affected the verdict.” Id. at 676 (citing United States v. Neuroth, 809 F.2d 339, 342 (6th Cir. 1987)). However, James is distinguishable from the case at hand because in James, the circumstances revealed that the jury had likely relied on the constructive possession instruction to convict the defendant. Here, there is no indication that the jury relied on the constructive possession instruction in convicting Dawson. This case is more analogous to United States v. McCoy, 767 F.2d 395 (6th Cir. 1985), where we found that a constructive possession instruction constituted harmless error. As in McCoy, the jury in Dawson’s trial is unlikely to have been confused by the instruction. See id. at 398. The government presented evidence that Dawson was in actual possession of the firearm – namely, a police officer observed Dawson in possession of the firearm before Dawson discarded it underneath an air-conditioning unit. There was no testimony suggesting that Dawson constructively possessed the firearm. Viewing the record as a whole, it is clear that the jury found Dawson guilty based on a theory of actual possession. While the constructive possession instruction was error, it was harmless because, had it not been given, the jury undoubtedly would have convicted Dawson of actual possession. See McCoy, 767 F.2d at 397 (citing United States v. Hasting, 461 U.S. 499, 510-11 (1983)).