Opinion ID: 4103201
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Indictment and Trial Proceedings

Text: The indictment charged Garrity with one count of knowingly making a false and fictitious statement in conjunction with the attempted acquisition of a firearm, pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a)(6) and 924(a)(2). With respect to the false 4 Case: 16-10930 Date Filed: 11/30/2016 Page: 5 of 13 statement, the indictment stated that Garrity falsely stated that he resided in Florida: knowingly made a false and fictitious written statement to Gander Mountain, which statement was likely to deceive Gander Mountain as to a fact material to the lawfulness of such sale of the said firearm to the defendant under chapter 44 of Title 18, in that the defendant did execute a Department of Justice, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Form 4473, Firearms Transaction Record, and stated that he resided in Florida, when in fact, as the defendant then knew, he did not reside in Florida. [Id.] (emphasis added). At trial, the jury heard testimony from employees at the Gander Mountain store and Investigator Patton as to the events recounted above. In addition, Anthony Herzog testified that Garrity had never lived with him in Florida. In fact, Garrity could not have lived at Herzog’s Roosevelt Boulevard, Daytona Beach address in June 2014 because Herzog sold that home in November 2013 and moved to a new home in Port Orange, Florida. According to Herzog, Garrity visited the Roosevelt Boulevard home once for a few days and visited the Port Orange home twice for three to five days. During the June 2014 visit, Herzog met Garrity at the airport when he flew to Florida from New Jersey and later drove Garrity back to the airport so that Garrity could return to New Jersey. The government also presented testimony from: (1) a New Jersey police officer who said that in September 2012, Garrity presented him with a vehicle registration in his name and with an address on Broadview Avenue in Berlin, New 5 Case: 16-10930 Date Filed: 11/30/2016 Page: 6 of 13 Jersey; (2) a federal agent who said that he arrested Garrity on the federal charge in 2015, at his home on Broadview Avenue in Berlin, New Jersey; and (3) a U.S. Marshal who testified that when Garrity was being booked on his federal charge in 2015, Garrity said his residence was at an address on Broadview Avenue in Berlin, New Jersey. Garrity testified in his own defense. Garrity admitted that he did not live at the Roosevelt Boulevard, Daytona Beach address when he completed the Form 4473. Garrity maintained, however, that in 2014, he considered himself to be a resident of Florida. Garrity explained that he was a truck driver with his main route between New Jersey, where his family lived, and Florida. When his work brought him to Florida, he stayed with Herzog, but he had been planning to move permanently to Florida since 2012. He used Herzog’s address for mail, for a Florida commercial driver’s license, to register and insure two vehicles in Florida, and to register to vote in Florida. At the time of his 2014 trip to Florida, Garrity “was looking at places to move down.” Garrity said that he returned to New Jersey only to visit his children and because his father was sick. When he was in Berlin, New Jersey, he stayed at either his in-laws’ house on Broadview Avenue or at his mother’s house on Washington Avenue. Garrity’s former mother-in-law testified that Garrity originally lived in a home on Broadview Avenue in Berlin, New Jersey, but, at some point, he moved 6 Case: 16-10930 Date Filed: 11/30/2016 Page: 7 of 13 to Florida to live with a friend named Tony. She said she owned the home on Broadview Avenue, but admitted that Garrity paid the mortgage and taxes. At the charge conference, Garrity objected to the district court’s proposed jury instruction that one of the elements of the crime was that “the Defendant knowingly made a false and fictitious statement, orally or in writing, that was likely to deceive the dealer.” Garrity argued that the instruction should limit the false statement to his answer to Question 13 of the Form 4733. Although the government had no objection to the limitation, the district court overruled Garrity’s objection. The district court gave this charge to the jury and also instructed the jury that it would be provided with a copy of the indictment to refer to during deliberations and “the Defendant is on trial only for the specific crime charged in the Indictment. Explicitly, the Defendant is charged with making a false or fictitious statement on ATF Form 4473.” During closing arguments, the government argued that Garrity lied when he wrote on the Form 4473 that he lived at the Roosevelt Boulevard address in Daytona Beach, Florida because the evidence showed that he did not live in Florida at all, but rather in New Jersey, where his family lived, where he paid the mortgage and taxes on the Broadview Avenue residence, and where he admitted to Patton and other law enforcement officers that he actually lived. The government maintained that Garrity merely used the Roosevelt Boulevard address so he could 7 Case: 16-10930 Date Filed: 11/30/2016 Page: 8 of 13 purchase firearms in Florida rather than his actual home state of New Jersey, which had more onerous restrictions on firearm purchases. In response, Garrity’s attorney argued that that “the Indictment is the charge that my client is accused of, and that is Question 13, his place of residence” and that Garrity had not lied in responding to Question 13 because he considered himself to be a resident of both Florida and New Jersey, as defined in the Form 4473. Defense counsel stressed that “as it relates to element two, the knowingly made a false or fictitious statement, again, the place of residence is what is charged,” which was where Garrity “intended to make a home,” and “the question is not . . . where is his physical address.” After an hour of deliberations and without asking any questions, the jury found Garrity guilty of the charge in the indictment.