Opinion ID: 2996970
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Moore and Ramos

Text: 1 Moore and Ramos raise several additional challenges to their § 924(c) convictions. Moore asserts that it was simply a coincidence that he carried his service revolver during the various acts alleged in the indictment and for which he was convicted, because as a member of the CPD, he was required to carry his weapon. For that reason, he urges, the government failed to prove that he used or carried his gun “in relation to” a drug trafficking offense, as required by § 924(c). See Smith v. United States, 508 U.S. 223, 228 (1993) (holding that § 924(c) requires prosecution to “prove that the use or carrying was ‘during and in relation to’ a ‘crime of violence or drug trafficking crime’ ”). Ramos takes this argument in a slightly different direction. He agrees that the evidence shows that Silky hired him to serve as a drug escort, but he claims that his job was specifically limited to displaying his police badge and engaging in “cop talk,” if necessary. Like Moore, Ramos says that the fact that he was carrying his service revolver while escorting the alleged drug couriers was a mere coincidence. Because he did not intend to use the gun, he concludes, he did not carry it in relation to the charged drug offenses. We are not persuaded. This case, after all, comes to us following a jury trial. We must affirm their convictions unless “no rational trier of fact could conclude that the government proved the crime’s essential elements beyond a reasonable doubt.” United States v. Young, 316 F.3d 649, 14 Nos. 01-3804, 01-3805, 01-3853 & 01-3865 660 (7th Cir. 2002). A rational juror could have concluded that Moore and Ramos were hired to serve as escorts for Silky’s drug couriers because as members of the CPD, they could persuade other law enforcement officers not to detain or inspect the couriers’ cars. A police badge and so-called “cop talk” were essential to this plan, but a juror was entitled also to believe that the fact that both officers carried their service revolvers on them was also essential and “in relation to” the plan. Put differently, even if there was no expectation that either Moore or Ramos would have to use a gun actively while escorting Silky’s drug shipments, they were both hired to play the role of a police officer, which necessarily entails carrying a service revolver. To be clear, we are not holding that any time a police officer commits a drug trafficking offense or a crime of violence while carrying his or her police weapon, the officer automatically has violated § 924(c). Our case is much more limited. Officers Moore and Ramos were in fact hired to use their status as police officers, with all the trappings, to protect Silky’s drug couriers. That is enough to support their § 924(c) convictions for carrying a gun in relation to a drug trafficking offense. See, e.g., Young, 316 F.3d at 66061. 2 Moore’s next effort to undermine his § 924(c) convictions is more targeted, but ultimately unavailing. Focusing on the counts relating to the three occasions on which he provided escort services for Counsel, he argues that no evidence was adduced at trial to show that he actually carried a gun on these occasions. The record in this case flatly contradicts that assertion. At one point during the Officers’ trial, Sergeant Shepherd testified that on each of the five occasions that Moore and Ramos provided escort services, he could see that they were wearing their guns. Nos. 01-3804, 01-3805, 01-3853 & 01-3865 15 3 Likewise, Ramos’s final effort to undermine his § 924(c) convictions is going nowhere. He argues that the jury was improperly instructed that he could be convicted for violating the statute if they found that the fact that he carried his police gun provided him with a sense of security or in any way emboldened him to engage in criminal conduct. This, according to Ramos, is an argument foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s decision in Bailey v. United States, 516 U.S. 137 (1995). Ramos mis-reads Bailey. In that case, the Court’s analysis was confined to the “use” branch of § 924(c). 516 U.S. at 143, 144. Bailey does not address the issue in Ramos’s case, which is whether he carried a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking offense. We agree with the government that Ramos’s § 924(c) convictions are supported by evidence showing both the “carrying” and the “relation” elements. See, e.g., United States v. Pike, 211 F.3d 385, 389 (7th Cir. 2000).