Opinion ID: 2830302
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Constructive Possession Jury Instruction

Text: We review a district court’s choice of jury instructions for abuse of discretion. United States v. Ross, 502 F.3d 521, 527 (6th Cir. 2007). We may reverse a judgment based on improper jury instructions “only if the instructions, viewed as a whole, were confusing, misleading, or prejudicial.” United States v. Svoboda, 633 F.3d 479, 483 (6th Cir. 2011). In reviewing the instructions, we consider whether they “adequately informed the jury of the relevant considerations and provided a basis in law for aiding the jury in reaching its decision.” Id.
Taylor argues that the district court erred in giving the jury an instruction for constructive possession of the shotgun because the only type of possession that the evidence supported was actual possession of the shotgun. It is well established that boilerplate instructions “should not be used without careful consideration being given to their applicability to the facts and theories of the specific case being tried.” United States v. Hughes, 134 F. App’x 72, 76-77 (6th Cir. 2005) (quoting United States v. Wolak, 923 F.2d 1193, 1198 (6th Cir. 1991)). Throughout trial, the government’s witnesses testified that Taylor actually possessed Smith’s shotgun. At the end of trial, however, the district court determined that a constructive possession instruction should be given, in addition to an actual possession instruction, due to testimony showing that when the officers apprehended Taylor in Hayden’s car, the shotgun was not on Taylor’s physical person, but was found, instead, at arm’s length on the floorboards between his seat and the door of the vehicle. Neither party contests that there is no other evidence to suggest that at any time when Taylor did not physically No. 14-6048 United States v. Taylor Page 9 possess the shotgun, or have it directly next to him in the car, he had constructive possession of the shotgun. Further, no evidence exists on the record of Taylor possessing, either constructively or actually, a firearm other than Smith’s shotgun. The district court’s determination that such facts warranted a constructive possession instruction, therefore, was in error. As explained in United States v. Gardner, “[c]onstructive possession exists when a person does not have possession but instead knowingly has the power and the intention at a given time to exercise dominion and control over an object, either directly or through others.” 488 F.3d 700, 713 (6th Cir. 2007). In contrast, actual possession exists “where the defendant has physical contact with a firearm-e.g., he holds it, holsters it, or keeps it in a place where it is immediately accessible.” Id. Thus, when Taylor put down his shotgun on the floor board next to him, but the shotgun was immediately accessible to him, the gun was still in Taylor’s actual possession, not his constructive possession, within the legal meaning of that term. Accordingly, the district court should not have instructed the jury on constructive possession; the court’s error, however, does not require reversal of an otherwise valid conviction. See Griffin v. United States, 502 U.S. at 60 (holding that refusal to remove an insufficiently supported theory from the jury’s consideration does not provide an independent basis for reversing an otherwise valid conviction). “Where one of two grounds for conviction is unsupported by the evidence and sufficient evidence supports the other ground for conviction, an error claimed as to the unsupported charge is harmless as a matter of law.” Hughes, 134 F. App’x at 77 (citing United States v. Mari, 47 F.3d 782, 786 (6th Cir. 1995)). Further, courts can assume that jurors are able to analyze the evidence and discard factually inadequate theories. Mari, 47 F.3d at 786. Taylor argues that the rule in Mari and Griffin applies only where there is an absence of anything in the record to support the constructive possession theory. In contrast, in this case, Taylor avers that the jury could have found him guilty based on the inadequate legal theory of constructive possession because he momentarily laid the shotgun on the floorboards between his seat and the door of the vehicle during the traffic stop. Contrary to Taylor’s assertion, however, this is a case to which the rule in Mari perfectly applies because the only evidence which could No. 14-6048 United States v. Taylor Page 10 have been construed to support a constructive possession theory, in reality, supported an actual possession theory. Thus, this case is analogous to Smith, Hughes, and Bowman, where this Court found that giving an unwarranted constructive possession instruction, in addition to a supported actual possession instruction, amounted only to harmless error where facts in evidence could not have led the jury to discard an actual possession theory while instead returning an unsupported conviction for constructive possession. See United States v. Smith, 419 F. App’x 619, 620-22 (6th Cir. 2011) (finding harmless error in giving a constructive possession jury instruction because: the government’s only theory was that the defendant actually possessed a gun upon arrest; the defendant’s theory was that the police returned to his home after his arrest and found a gun there that did not belong to him; and, the defendant’s theory, which was the basis of the constructive possession jury instruction, did not support a theory of constructive possession, but only that the gun did not belong to the defendant); Hughes, 134 F. App’x. at 76-77 (finding harmless error in giving a constructive possession instruction where: no record evidence supported a theory of constructive possession; both parties agreed defendant actually possessed ammunition; no evidence suggested that at any time when the defendant did not possess ammunition, she had effective control of it; and, the district court only wrongfully gave constructive possession instruction because there was testimony that the ammunition in the defendant’s actual possession really belonged to someone else); United States v. Bowman, 126 F. App’x 251, 254-55 (6th Cir. 2005) (finding constructive possession instruction was harmless error because: neither the defendant nor the government suggested that the defendant had constructive possession of the gun police found on the ground; the officer testified that he saw the defendant, while running from police, throw a gun on the ground; and, although the defendant admitted he owned a gun, the prosecutor never argued that the defendant should be convicted for possession of a gun other than the one found on the ground that the officer saw the defendant discard). As stated, supra, the only possible evidence on the record which could have been construed to support a jury instruction for constructive possession was that when the police apprehended Taylor, the shotgun was on the floor next to him, and not on his physical person; No. 14-6048 United States v. Taylor Page 11 such facts do not, however, warrant a constructive possession instruction, but, instead, constitute evidence supporting an actual possession instruction. Thus, there is no question that the only evidence offered at trial was of actual possession, and this Court can assume that the jury convicted Taylor only on a theory of actual possession, regardless of the instructions given. See Hughes, 134 F. App’x. at 77; Smith, 419 F. App’x at 620-22; Bowman, 126 F. App’x at 25455. Accordingly, the district court’s constructive possession instruction was harmless as a matter of law. Finally, Taylor argues harmless error should not apply in this case because it gives an incentive to district courts to be over-inclusive with jury instructions regardless of the theory of possession presented, which hampers the incentive for careful consideration of the facts and theories of the specific case being tried. Such an argument is inappropriate in the case sub judice, where the district court showed a reasoned consideration of facts which it believed supported a constructive possession instruction. In light of the minute-to-minute legal determinations that a district court must make during a jury trial, it cannot be said that the district court’s harmless legal error was a result of lackadaisical consideration of the facts of the case.