Opinion ID: 171618
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mr. Hooks' Conviction

Text: Mr. Hooks contends a reasonable juror would have had a reasonable doubt as to whether the item seen by Officer Cash in the pickup was, in fact, the .38 revolver later discovered by Officer Cash. He notes that Officer Cash only momentarily saw what he claimed to be a revolver, at dusk in an unlighted pickup with dark tinted windows. Mr. Hooks points out that Officer Cash discovered the.38 revolver over eighteen hours later in an area the officers had extensively searched the night before and left unsecured in the interim. He further notes that no physical evidence, such as a fingerprint, links the revolver to him. According to Mr. Hooks, his conviction should therefore be reversed for insufficient evidence. We disagree. A reasonable jury could have found Mr. Hooks guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of possessing the .38 revolver. Several pieces of evidence lead us to this conclusion. First, Officer Cash testified that the .38 revolver was the firearm he saw wedged in the seat next to Mr. Hooks' right leg. Second, Mr. Hooks exhibited furtive behavior by fleeing the checkpoint and leading officers on a high-speed chase. Third, the discovery of the.38 revolver in the same area as the discarded t-shirt, when coupled with Mr. Hooks' post-arrest admission that he threw gun handles out of the pickup during the chase, is compelling evidence against Mr. Hooks. Fourth, Mr. Hooks' recorded statements to Mr. Ferrell affirmatively indicate his knowledge of the revolver. He remarked: (1) the officers must have found them straps and shit we fixin to be gone, and (2) I pray to god they ain't gonna find that shit. Mr. Hooks also made clear that he believed he, as the driver, would face criminal charges when he stated, I am gonna get hit with all that shit they find. While we recognize that Officer Cash did not recover the.38 revolver until the day after the chase, Mr. Hooks' statements provide some connection or nexus between him and the firearm. See Hishaw, 235 F.3d at 571. The evidence logically and probabilistically shows that Mr. Hooks had knowledge of and access to the .38 revolver. See Michel, 446 F.3d at 1129. We therefore conclude that there is evidence sufficient to support Mr. Hooks' conviction.