Opinion ID: 460125
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Thomas Reese's Firearms Convictions

Text: 37 Thomas Reese was convicted on two counts of unlawful possession of firearms, in violation of 18 U.S.C. app. Sec. 1202(a)(1) (1982). 3 These convictions arose from the discovery of two firearms during the search of the Reeses' residence subsequent to their arrest. The searching officers discovered a semi-automatic carbine behind a painting in the living room and a revolver under a pillow in a bedroom. With respect to these convictions, Reese contends that the evidence introduced at trial was insufficient to establish his constructive possession of the firearms. 4 We agree. 38 Although the firearms were discovered at Reese's house, Reese was not the only person residing there at the time the guns were found. Where, as here, a residence is jointly occupied, the mere fact that contraband is discovered at the residence will not, without more, provide evidence sufficient to support a conviction based on constructive possession against any of the occupants. In United States v. Delgado, 327 F.2d 641 (9th Cir.1964), we reversed two defendants' convictions for possession of contraband that had been based solely on the fact that the contraband was found on property they both occupied. A quantity of marijuana had been discovered pursuant to a search of a bedroom shared by the defendants. The marijuana was found in a drawer of a nightstand that may have been used by either or both of them. In reversing the convictions, we reasoned that 39 it is pure speculation as to whether [one defendant] alone, or [the other defendant], alone, or both of them, had possession. No doubt one ... did; perhaps both did. But proof that does not give a rational basis for resolving the doubts necessarily present in the situation pictured to the jury in this case is not sufficient. 40 Id. at 642. See also United States v. DiNovo, 523 F.2d 197 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 1016, 96 S.Ct. 449, 46 L.Ed.2d 387 (1975) (where evidence that defendant had constructively possessed heroin was limited to proof that heroin was found at a residence in which defendant resided with her husband, and government failed to adduce evidence specifically linking heroin to defendant, conviction was not supported by sufficient evidence); United States v. Craven, 478 F.2d 1329, 1333 (6th Cir.1973) (possession of a residence is insufficient to establish possession of all the contents of the house, but evidence of defendant's constructive possession of house combined with admissions that he collected guns was sufficient to establish constructive possession of an unregistered firearm). 41 In United States v. Chesher, 678 F.2d 1353 (9th Cir.1982), we addressed this issue in the context of a prosecution for manufacturing methamphetamine. The evidence in Chesher established that Chesher lived in his mother's house, which contained a methamphetamine laboratory in the back room. The door to the laboratory had been fitted with a latch and padlock which could be opened with a key that Chesher had in his possession when he was arrested. In addition, two of Chesher's fingerprints were found on a piece of equipment in the laboratory. A small amount of methamphetamine was also found in Chesher's bedroom. 42 Although we ultimately concluded that there existed sufficient evidence to support Chesher's conviction, our conclusion was expressly predicated on the fact that the contraband discovered in Chesher's bedroom linked him in a possessory sense to the laboratory. We reasoned that 43 [t]he house itself belonged not to Chesher but to his mother, and a third adult lived there as well ... The circumstantial evidence of the fingerprints on the equipment and the key in Chesher's possession are incriminating, but without the additional evidence of the methamphetamine in Chesher's bedroom a finding of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt is unsupported by substantial evidence. 44 Id. at 1358. Thus, Chesher's presence in the residence and his access to the laboratory was not, without more, sufficient to support his conviction. 45 Here, the only evidence in the record tending to support Reese's convictions consists of his occupation of the house in which he resided with his wife. Although one gun was found under a pillow in the largest bedroom of the house, there is no evidence suggesting that the pillow under which it was found was used by Reese or even that he used that bedroom. Nor were his fingerprints found on either gun. Here, as in Delgado, it is pure speculation as to which of the house's occupants possessed the guns. 5 In the absence of any evidence more specifically connecting Thomas Reese to the firearms, there exists insufficient evidence to support the convictions. 6 We therefore reverse the two firearms convictions. 46