Opinion ID: 4553999
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Constructive Possession Issue.

Text: Caudle’s felon-in-possession conviction arose when a 911 call from his wife, Candace, led Deputy Sheriff Douglas Bjork to Caudle’s home in Jacksonville, Arkansas. At sentencing, Bjork testified that he found a distraught Candace sitting outside the home on the bumper of her vehicle. She told Bjork that Caudle was “cussing at her and threatening to beat her and threatening to kill her,” pointed a pistol at her face, and fired one round from an assault rifle into a stuffed animal. Caudle, who was pacing back and forth on the front porch, yelled at Bjork he was “not going to go to jail, no matter what.” Bjork told Caudle to wait on the porch. When he instead entered the home, Candace warned Bjork that Caudle had a gun. Caudle returned outside without a firearm and belligerently approached Bjork and Candace in a threatening manner. Bjork attempted to handcuff Caudle, who attempted to flee. Bjork drew his taser and called for backup. Caudle stopped but resisted handcuffing. Bjork wrestled Caudle into handcuffs and placed him in the back of Bjork’s car. 1 The Honorable Billy Roy Wilson, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Arkansas. -2- Candace provided written consent to search the Caudle home. Bjork saw a stuffed animal with a hole through its middle and a hole in the floor beneath it. Deputies found a loaded assault rifle on the bed next to a magazine capable of holding 30 bullets, a nine-millimeter handgun under the living room couch, an empty .40 caliber magazine sitting on the couch, and spent .40 caliber shell casings on the bedroom dresser. Candace told the deputies a .40 caliber handgun was in the house or in her vehicle. They found the Springfield in the passenger side of the vehicle. Candace owned all three firearms and the vehicle. In addition to Bjork’s testimony, BATF Special Agent Timothy Boles testified Candace told the grand jury that indicted Caudle that she kept the three firearms “on top of the bedroom closet,” and that Caudle had driven her vehicle “maybe once [or] twice,” including around the time of his arrest when he “[p]robably took it to the gas station and put gas in it for [her].” Based on this testimony, the government argued there was sufficient evidence to find that Caudle possessed the Springfield .40 caliber firearm: [The Caudles] are a married couple. They have one vehicle. There’s two people. They both can drive the vehicle. She has indicated through grand jury testimony that he has driven that vehicle before. There’s the .40 caliber ammunition that is located inside their bedroom. There’s the .40 caliber magazine that is located on the couch. So all of those taken together, Your Honor, [Caudle] has constructively possessed [the Springfield]. The district court, stating “I consider it close,” overruled Caudle’s objection and found that he constructively possessed the Springfield. -3- In applying a § 2K2.1(b)(1) enhancement, the court counts only those firearms that the defendant obtained, possessed, or distributed. USSG § 2K2.1, comment. (n.5). “A defendant’s possession of firearms may be actual or constructive, sole or joint.” United States v. Vega, 720 F.3d 1002, 1003 (8th Cir. 2013). The government had the burden to prove Caudle constructively possessed the Springfield by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Sacus, 784 F.3d 1214, 1219 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 136 S. Ct. 348 (2015). Constructive possession “is established if the person has dominion over the premises where the firearm is located, or control, ownership, or dominion over the firearm itself.” United States v. Cross, 888 F.3d 985, 990 (8th Cir.) (quotation omitted), cert. denied, 139 S. Ct. 351 (2018). The circumstances “must show a sufficient nexus between the defendant and the firearm.” Id. at 991. “Stated differently, constructive possession requires knowledge of an object, the ability to control it, and the intent to do so.” United States v. Kelley, 594 F.3d 1010, 1014 (8th Cir. 2010) (quotation omitted). “[T]he factfinder may infer defendant had control of the firearm based on all the circumstances.” United States v. Byas, 581 F.3d 723, 726 (8th Cir. 2009). Caudle argues “the facts do not support a finding that Mr. Caudle had knowledge of, access to, and intended to control the firearm in his wife’s car.” We disagree. Caudle lived on the property where all three guns were found. Though Candace testified to the grand jury that she owned the guns, “ownership is irrelevant to the issue of possession.” United States v. Boykin, 986 F.2d 270, 274 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 510 U.S. 888 (1993). Candace testified she kept all three guns in the bedroom closet, where Caudle obviously had access and the ability to control. The day the guns were found, Candace told Bjork that Caudle had pointed a handgun at her face and shot a stuffed animal with the assault rifle. Deputies found the assault rifle and a magazine in plain view on the bed the couple shared and a handgun under the living room couch. Candace told Bjork there was another pistol somewhere in their home or her car. Another deputy found the .40 caliber Springfield in a vehicle -4- Candace testified Caudle had recently driven. In addition, a .40 caliber magazine was found on the couch and spent .40 caliber casings on the bedroom dresser. On appeal, Caudle relies primarily on the Fifth Circuit’s decision in United States v. Houston, 364 F.3d 243 (5th Cir. 2004). In that case, the defendant told law enforcement officers he believed there were two guns in the couple’s hotel room, which were in plain view. His wife disclosed a pistol -- the third firearm -- in her purse. The district court found the defendant constructively possessed the third gun and imposed a two-level § 2K2.1(b)(1)(A) enhancement. The Fifth Circuit reversed, concluding that these circumstances did not support a finding that the defendant constructively possessed the pistol in his wife’s purse. 364 F.3d at 249. Caudle contends the circumstances in this case mirror Houston because the Springfield was not in plain view, and Candace told the deputies a third gun might be in her vehicle. He argues that the fact he drove the vehicle once or twice did not establish knowledge, access, and intent to control the firearm. Although Caudle’s constructive possession of the Springfield was not as obvious as in many of our constructive possession cases, such as Byas, 581 F.3d at 726, we conclude the district court’s finding on this “close” issue was not clearly erroneous. The three guns were kept in Caudle’s home, where he had unrestricted access. On the day in question, when Caudle had assaulted his wife with two of the guns, all three were found scattered around the couple’s home and their sole vehicle. Candace testified Caudle had used the vehicle at about that time. The .40 caliber magazine and spent .40 caliber casings found in the home strengthen the nexus between Caudle and the .40 caliber Springfield as Caudle actually or constructively possessed this ammunition. See Cross, 888 F.3d at 991. Unlike the facts in Houston, the couple’s joint occupancy of the home and joint possession of the three firearms “support an inference that [Caudle] had knowledge of, and access to” the Springfield pistol found in his wife’s vehicle. 364 F.3d at 248. The undisputed facts taken -5- together establish a nexus between Caudle and the Springfield sufficient to support the district court’s finding of constructive possession. There was no clear error.