Opinion ID: 738533
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: effect of bailey v. united states

Text: 11 In Bailey v. United States, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 501, 133 L.Ed.2d 472 (1995) the Supreme Court narrowed the meanings of use and carry of a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking offense, under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1). The present conviction was pre-Bailey, but the Bailey holding applies. Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U.S. 314, 321 n. 7, 107 S.Ct. 708, 712 n. 7, 93 L.Ed.2d 649 (1987). The government concedes that the jury instruction in this case was erroneous in the light of Bailey, for it merely utilized use and carry as self-defining terms. 12 We have reviewed the evidence and conclude that a properly instructed jury would have found Mauldin guilty of carrying the firearm. We do not need to address whether he was using it. In a similar case, United States v. Riascos-Suarez, 73 F.3d 616, 623 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 136, 136 L.Ed.2d 84 (1996), this court held that the carry prong of Bailey was met by evidence that the gun was visibly placed in the driver's side of the console, within easy reach and immediately available for use. Like Mauldin, the defendant in Riascos was the driver. The car was pulled over, the officer approached and saw bundles of money scattered around on the floor. He asked Riascos to exit and, as he did so, the officer saw the handgun protruding from the driver's side of the console. This court found that the defendant would not be guilty of using because he was not actively employing the weapon. It defined carrying as requiring more than mere possession or storage and held those requirements were met because the weapon was in reach and immediately available for use. In this case not only was the weapon within reach and immediately available, Mauldin's actions indicated that he might raise his left hand and arm and shoot, and each of the officers, feared--and reasonably so--that was what he might do. 13 Mauldin contends that whether the gun was within reach and immediately available was a jury issue that precludes this court from holding that a properly instructed jury would have found that he was carrying. We think not. The pistol was not underneath the seat or in the area of the accelerator and brake pedal or elsewhere in the car and out of Mauldin's reach. It was photographed in its location, from which it had not been moved, and the photo discloses it on the driver's side, on the flat area of the floorboard where either one or both of Mauldin's feet would be located. 14 Except for Mauldin's own statement the evidence indicates that he placed the weapon where it was found. He was not seen to hold the pistol or even touch it. But, initially, he did not put either hand on the steering wheel when told to do so. Then, after urging, he placed his right hand on the wheel but not his left. He was seen by the officers to move his left hand and arm up and down in a pitching motion. Upon further urging, at gunpoint, he raised his left hand, placed it on the wheel, and then exited the car. He brought his left hand up only after Officer Goetz, who was taking into custody the front seat passenger (who also had exited), directed his attention away from the passenger and to Mauldin because Mauldin was keeping his left hand down. Goetz tapped his weapon on the window and indicated to Mauldin to bring his left hand up, and Mauldin then did so. 15 Mauldin's contention is that the gun was pitched to its location by one of the occupants in the back seat. None of the three passengers was seen to pitch anything. Two bailed out before the car stopped, and the third fled when Goetz became involved in getting Mauldin to bring his left hand up into view. Mauldin's shift of blame to a pitcher is diminished by the fact that he also said the cocaine was pitched into the front seat by one of the back seat passengers, but one parcel of it was in a pocket of the left front door, a location to which it could not have been pitched. 16 It is not disputed that the weapon was in the vehicle in relation to the charged drug offense. 17 The defendant relies upon United States v. Moore, 76 F.3d 111, 112 (6th Cir.1996). That case is distinguishable. There guns were found in the bedroom where defendant was sleeping and there was no transportation of the guns. In United States v. Baker, 78 F.3d 1241, 1247 (7th Cir.1996) the gun and cocaine were found underneath the driver's seat. This court found that Baker did not use the gun as defined by Bailey but that a properly instructed jury would have found that he carried the gun, because it was transported and within reasonable reach. 18 United States v. Spring, 80 F.3d 1450 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 385, 136 L.Ed.2d 302 (1996), also relied on by the defendant, is inapposite. There the firearm was in a gym bag inside a fanny pack in the back seat of the car driven by Spring. A co-defendant wore the fanny pack during the robberies. 19 Because the weapon was within Mauldin's reach and immediately available for use, a properly instructed jury would find him guilty of carrying the firearm. There was no error.