Opinion ID: 745464
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: The Section 924(c)(1) Conviction

Text: 66 Quinn challenges his conviction for using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). Quinn argues that the government failed to produce sufficient evidence to demonstrate that he was using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. 67 Sufficiency of the evidence is a question of law we review de novo. United States v. Chirinos, 112 F.3d 1089, 1095 (11th Cir.), petition for cert. filed, No. 97-5738 (U.S. Aug. 25, 1997). In determining whether sufficient evidence supports a defendant's conviction, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the government and draw all reasonable inferences and credibility choices in favor of the jury's verdict. Id. To uphold the trial court's denial of the motion for a judgment of acquittal and the jury's guilty verdict, we need only find that a reasonable factfinder could conclude that the evidence established the defendant's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. United States v. Range, 94 F.3d 614, 616-617 (11th Cir.1996). 68 Section 924(c)(1) provides in relevant part: 69 Whoever, during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime ... for which he may be prosecuted in a court of the United States, uses or carries a firearm, shall, in addition to the punishment provided for such crime of violence or drug trafficking crime, be sentenced to imprisonment for five years, and if the firearm is a short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun, or semiautomatic assault weapon, to imprisonment for ten years.... 70 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). A defendant thus can be convicted under § 924(c)(1) upon a showing that he either used or carried a firearm. Range, 94 F.3d at 619. In order to sustain a conviction under the use prong of the statute, the government must show active employment of the firearm, such as firing, attempted firing, brandishing, displaying, bartering, or striking. Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137, ----, 116 S.Ct. 501, 508, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995). To sustain a conviction under the alternative carry prong, the government must show an actual transporting of the firearm during and in relation to the drug trafficking offense, such as the defendant's having carried the firearm on his person or in a vehicle used for drug distribution during and in relation to the drug trafficking offense. See Chirinos, 112 F.3d at 1095-96; United States v. Farris, 77 F.3d 391, 395 (11th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 241, 136 L.Ed.2d 170 (1996). 71 Here, the government presented evidence that a firearm was seized from a juvenile, who was apprehended holding the gun while sitting in Quinn's car. As Quinn points out, there is no evidence that Quinn personally brandished or displayed the gun. The gun was in his car, roughly 50-60 feet away from his person at the penultimate moment of the transaction. 72 There is, however, overwhelming evidence that Quinn carried a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. In a post-arrest statement, Quinn said that the gun was his, that he had carried the gun to his car, that he had pulled off the highway while en route to the meeting place in order to check the gun, and that he had driven to the drug deal with the gun beside him for protection. 8 73 In Farris, 77 F.3d at 391, we held that a gun in the glove compartment of a vehicle was carried in violation of § 924(c)(1) when the vehicle was being used as a base for drug distribution. Id. at 395. In that case, however, the cocaine had been transported to the scene in the vehicle along with the gun. Defendant thus contends that Farris is inapplicable because Quinn's vehicle was used only to get Quinn to the scene of the transaction, and was not used to transport the cocaine. In Chirinos, however, this court held that the reasoning in Farris applied where a defendant had driven to an airstrip in order to steal a shipment of cocaine, and where agents had seized a mini-assault rifle from the back seat of the vehicle, even though there was no cocaine in the vehicle. See Chirinos, 112 F.3d at 1095-96; see also Range, 94 F.3d at 617 (holding that a defendant carried a gun where the gun was stored under the floormat of his vehicle during a delivery of money for cocaine). 74 Quinn also contends that a firearm is not carried in violation of § 924(c)(1) where, as here, it is not available for immediate use because it was 50-60 feet away from him at the end of the scenario. Other circuits are split on the issue whether a firearm must be immediately accessible to a defendant in order to support a carrying conviction under § 924(c)(1). The First, Fourth, Seventh, and Tenth Circuits have held that a gun may be carried in a vehicle for the purposes of § 924(c)(1) without necessarily being immediately accessible to the defendant. See United States v. Cleveland, 106 F.3d 1056, 1066-1068 (1st Cir.1997) (the ordinary meaning of the term 'carry' ... affords no basis for imposing an accessibility requirement), petition for cert. filed, No. 96-8837 (Apr. 30, 1997); United States v. Mitchell, 104 F.3d 649, 653-54 (4th Cir.1997) (the firearm does not cease to be 'carried' simply because it is not readily accessible to the offender); United States v. Molina, 102 F.3d 928, 932 (7th Cir.1996) (a gun does not have to be within a defendant's immediate reach to satisfy the carry prong); United States v. Miller, 84 F.3d 1244, 1259 (10th Cir.) (the government can obtain a conviction under the 'carry' prong even without proof [that] the firearm was in effortless reach), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 443, 136 L.Ed.2d 339 (1996), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Holland, 116 F.3d 1353 (10th Cir.1997). The Second, Sixth, and Ninth Circuits, in contrast, have imposed the requirement of immediate accessibility. See United States v. Giraldo, 80 F.3d 667, 676-77 (2d Cir.1996) (a person cannot be said to 'carry' a firearm without at least a showing that the gun is within reach during the commission of the drug offense (internal citation omitted)), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 135, 136 L.Ed.2d 83 (1996); United States v. Hernandez, 80 F.3d 1253, 1258 (9th Cir.1996) (the firearm must have been immediately available for use by the defendant); United States v. Riascos-Suarez, 73 F.3d 616, 623 (6th Cir.) (the firearm must be immediately available for use--on the defendant, or within his or her reach), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 136, 136 L.Ed.2d 84 (1996). 75 In Farris, this Circuit implicitly rejected the requirement of immediate availability. In that case, the defendant was apprehended as he approached a motel room with a quantity of cocaine; his gun was found in the glove compartment of a vehicle parked in the motel parking lot. See Farris, 77 F.3d at 393-94. For all of these reasons, we find the evidence sufficient to support Quinn's conviction under § 924(c)(1). 9