Opinion ID: 685153
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Ms. Billops: Enhancement for possession of firearm U.S.S.G. Sec. 2D1.1(b)(1)

Text: 27 Ms. Billops submits that, because she was acquitted on the charge of using or carrying a firearm, the district court should not have enhanced her base offense level by two points for possession of a firearm while committing a drug offense. 10 She claims that the enhancement added at least 52 months to her sentence for a charge on which she won acquittal before the jury. In her view, this result is a perversion of our system of justice and a violation of her constitutional protection from double jeopardy. 28 Ms. Billops correctly states that she was acquitted of Count 3, which alleged that, on January 12, 1994, she committed the offense of using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime. However, it is settled that a district court may properly enhance a defendant's sentence for possession of a firearm, even though the jury acquitted him of a violation of 18 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c), using or carrying a firearm in relation to a drug trafficking crime. United States v. Chandler, 12 F.3d 1427, 1434-35 (7th Cir.1994); United States v. Ewing, 979 F.2d 1234, 1237 (7th Cir.1992). Nothing in the Guidelines or the Constitution prevents the court from taking account of conduct in which the defendant engaged, whether or not an acquittal prevents the imposition of criminal penalties directly on that conduct. United States v. Welch, 945 F.2d 1378, 1385 (7th Cir.1991), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 112 S.Ct. 1235, 117 L.Ed.2d 469 (1992). More fundamentally, it is important to note that Ms. Billops admitted to the police that she possessed a .25 caliber handgun and that she was convicted of participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine that lasted for a far greater period of time than the one day on which she was charged with a violation of 21 U.S.C. Sec. 924(c). The district court could have easily concluded on this record that Ms. Billops possessed the firearm during her activities in furtherance of the conspiracy. 29