Opinion ID: 1886354
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: PFDCF Requires Physical Accessibility

Text: Title 11, section 1447A of the Delaware Code provides that it is a felony to possess a firearm during the commission of a felony. [8] Like the related crime of Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony (PDWDCF), defined in title 11, section 1447, [9] the manifest purpose of section 1447A is to discourage the accessibility of a [firearm] during the commission of a crime, thus reducing the probability of serious harm to the victim. [10] We have previously noted, however, that the automatic compounding of drug felonies through the use of section[s] 1447 [and 1447A] charges whenever a weapon is found in the general vicinity of a defendant charged with a drug-related felony is illogical and, as a matter of fundamental fairness, indefensible. [11] Instead, the dispositive aspects of the term possession within the meaning of the statute are the elements of availability and accessibility. [12] A felon is in possession of a firearm, within the meaning of section 1447A, only when it is physically available or accessible to him during the commission of the crime. [13] General `dominion and control' of a weapon located elsewhere, and not reasonably accessible to the felon, obviously is not the test under [section 1447A]. [14] Accordingly, the fact that the firearm is kept apart from the locus of the underlying felony can negate the required evidentiary nexus of physical accessibility between the weapon and [the defendant's] engaging in the underlying felony of drug [possession]. [15] Unlike crimes such as robbery and burglary, which tend to begin and end over a definite, usually short, period of time, drug-related crimes such as possession with intent to distribute are continuing felonies. [16] Therefore, actual possession of the firearm at the time of arrest, or the defendant's physical presence near the firearm at the time of arrest, is not necessary. Accordingly, we have looked to the weapon's proximity to the drugs or drug paraphernalia. [17] [W]here (as here) the police discover a firearm next to a quantity of drugs sufficient to constitute a felony, the law permits the jury to infer that the gun was accessible to the defendant at some point during the transaction for purposes of [section] 1447A. [18]