Opinion ID: 146484
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Stenger's Weapon

Text: Stenger and Knutson argue that the evidence was insufficient to establish that Stenger carried a real firearm during the First Bank robbery, as opposed to a toy gun. When, as here, the gun at issue is not introduced in evidence at trial, a defendant's possession of a firearm may be established solely by eyewitness testimony. See United States v. Garcia-Hernandez, 530 F.3d 657, 662 (8th Cir.2008). The mere possibility that the weapon could have been fake does not preclude a reasonable jury from finding that the gun was real; the government is not required to disprove the theoretical possibility that the defendant carried only a sophisticated toy. Id. at 663 (citing United States v. Jones, 16 F.3d 487, 491 (2d Cir.1994)). We conclude that the evidence was sufficient to establish that Stenger carried a real firearm. The jury had the opportunity to review the bank surveillance videos, which were carefully scrutinized frame-by-frame throughout both trials. Four bank employees testified about the robbery after having observed the gun at close range. At Stenger's trial, for example, bank employee Chani Carter testified that Stenger's weapon looked a little more real than Knutson's black powder pistol. Robinson testified that Stenger and Knutson were both carrying guns on the day of the robbery and that Stenger had a handgun that was loaded with a clip. That description was consistent with Antonio Sheley's testimony that Stenger confessed to carrying a weapon, which Sheley believed to be a 9mm handgun. The fact that the witnesses were not weapons experts or that they did not inspect and verify the authenticity of the gun does not preclude conviction for use of a firearm. The jurors were free to reach a logical conclusion based on the totality of the evidence presented at the trials, and a reasonable jury could have found that Stenger carried a firearm during the First Bank robbery.