Opinion ID: 4270549
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Initial Trial and Sentencing

Text: Hiachor Kpodi was arrested on May 9, 2013. The specific circumstances of his arrest and jury trial are detailed in Kpodi I and need not be repeated here. For our purposes, it is sufficient to note that Kpodi was ultimately convicted of possession with intent to distribute twenty-eight grams or more of cocaine base in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and § 841(b)(1)(B)(iii), and of possession of a firearm by a felon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). The Government moved to introduce evidence pertaining to an incident that occurred on April 4, 2013. In Kpodi I, we described the incident as follows: On the evening of April 4, Kpodi’s neighbors reported gun shots near Kpodi’s house. . . . [C]rime-scene investigators recovered twenty- nine shell casings near Kpodi’s residence, fourteen of which were from a .45 caliber handgun—the same caliber as the handgun subsequently seized in Kpodi’s residence on May 9. On April 24, the police interviewed two witnesses who saw Kpodi fleeing to his residence and ducking behind vehicles while the shootings occurred. 824 F.3d at 124 (footnote omitted). The District Court excluded the April 4 shooting evidence from trial. It determined that the evidence did not establish whether Kpodi had played any active role in the shootings. As a result, the court concluded that the evidence’s prejudicial effect substantially outweighed its probative value. 4 Kpodi’s initial sentencing took place on June 3, 2014. The Presentence Report (“PSR”) included a description of the April 4 shooting incident. Kpodi objected to the District Court’s consideration of evidence related to the shooting for sentencing purposes. He argued it was no more relevant for sentencing than it had been during trial. The court concluded, however, that the evidence’s inclusion in the PSR was permissible as a “description of the circumstances that led to the investigation and ultimately to the execution of the search warrant at Mr. Kpodi’s home,” which in turn led to his arrest and conviction. Id. at 125. When the District Court discussed the 18 U.S.C. § 3553 sentencing factors, it addressed the April 4 shooting in the context of the other crimes evidence. It noted that, “[w]hile we don’t know the precise reason for the gunfight or the defendant’s precise role in the gunfight, what is clear from the defendant’s involvement and participation in the gunfight combined with the loaded guns found in his possession during [an April 27, 2013] car-stop in the same month as the street gunfight and in his D.C. home where he stored his drugs is that he was clearly prepared to use a gun as part of his illegal drug business.” Id. at 125–26. The trial judge stated further that, “[t]o me, this is a very important circumstance that the association of the defendant’s drug conviction with guns . . . is a very important consideration in the Court’s determination of which sentence recommendation is appropriate in this case.” Id. at 126. Based on the PSR, the District Court imposed a two-level enhancement for possession of a dangerous weapon in furtherance of Kpodi’s drug trafficking. It ultimately sentenced him to concurrent terms of 151 months’ imprisonment on the 5 drug conviction and 120 months on the firearm conviction, at the bottom of the guidelines range.