Opinion ID: 655158
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Merger of the Sentences

Text: 29 Defendant's final contention is that the District Court erred in sentencing him to three concurrent sentences on counts three through five (Felon in Possession). After his jury convictions, defendant filed a motion to vacate counts three and four as multiplicitous to his conviction in count five. The government conceded, and the District Court found the counts to be multiplicitous because the simultaneous possession of several weapons constitutes only one offense under Section 922(g). Joint App. at 26-27 (citing United States v. Smith, 591 F.2d 1105 (5th Cir.1979); United States v. Reed, 647 F.2d 678, 685 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 837 (1981); United States v. Grinkiewicz, 873 F.2d 253, 255 (11th Cir.1989)). However, if the defendant fails to object to the multiplicitous counts in his indictment before trial, he is barred from challenging his convictions on appeal and can only challenge his separate sentences for these convictions. See Grinkiewicz, 873 F.2d at 255. See also United States v. Throneburg, 921 F.2d 654 (6th Cir.1990) (this Court held that while a defendant may be tried and convicted under section 922(g)(1) on separate counts for the ammunition and the firearm, a defendant may not be sentenced on both). 30 Here, upon defendant's convictions for the three felon-in-possession charges, the District Court should have merged the three counts for sentencing purposes and imposed only one sentence. United States v. Sims, 975 F.2d 1225, 1235 n. 9 (6th Cir.1992) (This Court has implicitly approved of merging multiple 924(c) counts for sentencing purposes.), cert. denied, 113 S.Ct. 1620 (1993); United States v. Reed, 639 F.2d 896, 904 n. 6 (2d Cir.1981) (stating that the principal danger in multiplicity--that the defendant will be given multiple sentences for the same offense--can be remedied at any time by merging the convictions and permitting only a single sentence.). Although the court did impose only one special assessment fee for all three convictions, the court imposed concurrent 115-month sentences on all three counts, instead of only one sentence.