Opinion ID: 445035
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Possession Issue

Text: 36 Tribunella next contends that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to support a finding that he possessed the shotgun. He contends that the evidence demonstrated only that he was in close proximity to the weapon when it was found, not that he was in possession of it. We disagree. 37 Possession may be actual or constructive. See United States v. Pelusio, 725 F.2d 161, 167 (2d Cir.1983). Constructive possession exists when a person ... knowingly has the power and the intention at a given time to exercise dominion and control over an object, id. at 167 (quoting United States v. Craven, 478 F.2d 1329, 1333 (6th Cir.), cert. denied 414 U.S. 866, 94 S.Ct. 54, 38 L.Ed.2d 85 (1973), and may be proved by direct or circumstantial evidence. It is not necessary that such evidence remove every reasonable hypothesis except that of guilt, United States v. Craven, 478 F.2d at 1333. 38 Viewing the evidence presented at trial in the light most favorable to the government, Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 469, 86 L.Ed. 680 (1942), and drawing all available inferences in favor of the jury's verdict, e.g., United States v. Bagaric, 706 F.2d 42, 64 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 104 S.Ct. 133, 78 L.Ed.2d 128 (1983), we conclude that the evidence provided a sufficient basis for a reasonable juror to find that Tribunella had the power and the intent to exercise dominion and control over the shotgun. The gun was found in the basement of the house, above the ceiling of a room that Tribunella used as his bedroom. Tribunella had used that room as his for the entire seven or eight years in which the family had resided in the house. No other member of the family used the room. No other member of the family had ever seen or was aware of the sawed-off shotgun. There was thus no basis for any supposition that the gun belonged to anyone other than Tribunella. Tribunella's family testified that he owned other guns; and the items found in the room clearly reflected its occupant's interest in guns in general and permitted the inference of his involvement with this gun in particular. There were, near Tribunella's bed, a magazine about guns; ammunition that could be fired from the shotgun; a hacksaw and a metal file that could have been used to modify the shotgun; and tape of the type that had been wrapped around the shotgun. In short, the evidence showed far more than Tribunella's mere proximity to the shotgun and provided an ample basis for a reasonable juror to find that Tribunella had constructive possession of the shotgun. 6