Opinion ID: 745464
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: The Section 924(c)(1) Jury Instruction

Text: 76 Quinn asserts that he is entitled to a new trial on the § 924(c)(1) issue because the jury instruction on that issue was incorrect in light of the Supreme Court's subsequent Bailey decision. The district court instructed the jury: 77 The mere presence of a firearm or firearms at the scene of a transaction or event does not necessarily establish proof that the firearm was being used or carried in relation to a drug trafficking offense. Possession of a firearm constitutes use in relation to a drug trafficking offense if the possession is an integral part of and facilitates the commission of the drug trafficking offense. 78 Using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking offense can be established by showing: One, proof of a transaction in which the circumstances surrounding the presence of a firearm suggest that the possessor of the firearm intended to have it available for possible use during the drug trafficking transaction, or two, the circumstances suggest that a firearm was strategically located so as to be quickly available for use during a drug trafficking transaction. 79 The parties agree that this instruction was erroneous vis-a-vis the use prong of § 924(c)(1), in light of the Supreme Court's holding in Bailey that possession of a firearm without active employment of that firearm cannot sustain a conviction under the use prong of the statute. See Bailey, 516 U.S. at ---- - ----, 116 S.Ct. at 508-09. An erroneous jury charge entitles a defendant to reversal of his conviction and remand for a new trial on the count in question only when a reasonable likelihood exists that the jury applied the instruction in an improper manner. Chirinos, 112 F.3d at 1096 (internal citation marks omitted); see also Range, 94 F.3d at 619-20 (a general verdict under § 924(c)(1) will be sustained so long as the evidence is sufficient to establish one of the means of violating it, but the reviewing court must be able to determine with absolute certainty that the jury based its verdict on the ground on which it had been properly instructed); United States v. Rogers, 94 F.3d 1519 (11th Cir.1996) (applying harmless error analysis to jury charge error of constitutional dimensions when error did not play any role in the verdict), cert. granted in part, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 1841, 137 L.Ed.2d 1046 (1997); United States v. Holland, 116 F.3d 1353, 1359 n. 4 (10th Cir.1997) (essential inquiry is whether the jury's verdict, in light of instructions given and evidence, is the functional equivalent of required findings for a carry conviction, citing United States v. Windom, 103 F.3d 523, 524 (7th Cir.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 1716, 137 L.Ed.2d 839 (1997); United States v. Pimentel, 83 F.3d 55, 60 (2d Cir.1996); United States v. Moore, 76 F.3d 111, 112 (6th Cir.1996), petition for cert. filed, No. 97-5648 (Aug. 18, 1997)). 80 We are convinced that the jury found Quinn guilty of carrying, and not of using, the firearm. In reaching this conclusion, we note that the evidence of the carrying of the firearm was overwhelming, and that there was a complete lack of evidence from which the jury could have concluded that Quinn used the gun--even under the instruction given by the district court. See Range, 94 F.3d at 620. The trial judge instructed the jury that mere possession of a firearm during a drug trafficking offense is insufficient to establish use, and that to find that Quinn used or carried the firearm, the jury would have to find that it was available for possible use during the drug trafficking transaction, or ... strategically located so as to be quickly available. Here, where the gun was 50-60 feet away, it was at that moment in time neither available nor, relatively speaking, quickly available. We thus conclude that a properly instructed jury would have found Quinn guilty of violating § 924(c)(1) on the basis of the carrying prong of the statute, evaluated in light of the evidence adduced.