Opinion ID: 2995288
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts

Text: Donald Lane knew that as a convicted felon and a parolee he was not allowed to possess firearms. But Lane enjoyed hunting and wanted to accompany his father and his girlfriend, Diane Stumph, on a small game hunt for rabbits. On two occasions, Lane discussed his wishes with his parole officer and eventually received permission to observe a hunt provided that he avoid handling any firearms. On March 18, 2000, Lane and Stumph went to the Twin Oaks Tavern. While there, Lane overheard Leroy Bowen discussing his plans to sell a right-handed .22 caliber 10 shot Ruger. Lane expressed interest in purchasing it, so Bowen retrieved the gun from his nearby home. Back at the bar, Lane removed the gun from its box, held and inspected it, negotiated a price, and bought it. Lane says that he bought the gun for Stumph to use while hunting. He corroborates this by explaining that the right-handed gun was useless to Lane, a left-handed man. Stumph never handled or examined the gun herself, but did give Lane money to buy it. The gun ended up in Stumph’s car, although the parties disagree as to how it got there and the jury made no specific factual finding resolving the difference in the stories. The government presented Bowen’s testimony that Lane re turned the gun to its box, picked it up and carried it outside himself. Lane insists that another man at the tavern, Russ Swonger, asked Lane if he could look at the gun. According to Lane, Swonger picked up the box and both men walked out of the tavern. Outside, Swonger examined the gun, returned it to the box, and without being asked, placed the box in Stumph’s car. Swonger corroborated Lane’s recollection. Lane points out that with a general verdict, we cannot be sure whether the jury concluded that he carried the gun to the car, or whether it based the felon in possession conviction exclusively on Lane’s examination of the gun. Roughly one month after Lane purchased the gun, probation and police officers arrested him for violating parole. Lane allowed the officers to search the home he shared with Stumph and officers found the .22 Ruger in the garage. Lane was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. sec. 922(g)(1) and was convicted by a jury. Lane progressed to the sentencing stage of his trial. Unfortunately for Lane, the felon in possession conviction was not his first brush with the law. Lane had two prior state felony convictions, one in January of 1996 and the other in February of 1996. Realizing that his prior felonies would lengthen his sentence, Lane petitioned the court to disregard his January 1996 conviction, but the district judge denied his motion. These prior crimes boosted Lane’s basic offense level from 20 to 24, and his criminal history from a Category III to a Category VI which exposed him to a sentence between 77 and 96 months rather than a range of 41 to 51 months.