Opinion ID: 2337217
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence

Text: Finally, we consider appellant's challenge to his conviction of possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence pursuant to D.C.Code § 22-3204(b) and his mandatory minimum five-year sentence required by that statute and imposed by the trial court. Appellant argues essentially that the offense of assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon cannot be a predicate offense for conviction of possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, because assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon is not listed as a crime of violence in D.C.Code § 22-3201(f). His argument is not persuasive. D.C.Code § 22-3204(b) provides that: [n]o person shall within the District of Columbia possess a pistol, machine gun, shotgun, rifle, or any other firearm or imitation firearm while committing a crime of violence or dangerous crime as defined in § 22-3201. Upon conviction of a violation of this subsection, the person may be sentenced to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 15 years and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a mandatory-minimum term of not less than 5 years and shall not be released on parole, or granted probation or suspension of sentence, prior to serving the mandatory-minimum sentence. D.C.Code § 22-3201(f) defines a crime of violence as including: any of the following crimes, or an attempt to commit any of the same, namely: Murder, manslaughter, rape, mayhem, maliciously disfiguring another, abduction, kidnapping, burglary, robbery, housebreaking, any assault with intent to kill, commit rape, or robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon, assault with intent to commit any offense punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, arson, or extortion or blackmail accompanied by threats of violence. Id. (emphasis added). While appellant correctly states that assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon is not specifically listed in D.C.Code § 22-3201(f), the legislative intent of D.C.Code § 22-3204(b) belies appellant's position. See ( Michael E.) Thomas v. United States, 602 A.2d 647, 651-53 (D.C.1992) (describing purpose of D.C.Code § 22-3204(b)); Freeman v. United States, 600 A.2d 1070, 1072-73 (D.C.1991) (describing history and intent of D.C.Code § 22-3204(b)). In 1989, the Council of the District of Columbia enacted legislation to create a `new firearm possession offense,' which would be violated if an underlying dangerous crime or crime of violence `was committed while possessing a firearm or imitation firearm.' Freeman, supra, 600 A.2d at 1072 (citations omitted). The manifest purpose [of D.C.Code § 22-3204(b)] is to proscribe the possession of firearms during a crime of violence or a dangerous crime; it is a gun control provision. Thomas, supra, 602 A.2d at 651. Giving the language of D.C.Code § 22-3204 its full meaning, it would be absurd here not to include assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon within its scope. The only distinction on the facts of this case between the crimes of assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon and assault with a dangerous weapon is the additional proof that appellant knew that the victim was a police officer. Cf. Williamson, supra, 445 A.2d at 979 (to prove assault with a dangerous weapon, the government must prove each of the elements of simple assault plus the fourth crucial elementthat the assault was committed with a dangerous weapon) (citation omitted); Carter, supra, 531 A.2d at 960 n. 12 (to prove assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon, the government must prove the elements of simple assault, use of a dangerous weapon, and that appellant knew that the victim was a police officer). Assault with a dangerous weapon and assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon constitute substantially the same offense, as appellant successfully argued in the trial court. [10] If appellant had been found guilty of the crime of assault with a dangerous weapon, a pistol, his conviction would have triggered D.C.Code § 22-3204(b). Thus, it would defy reason and common sense to conclude that D.C.Code § 22-3204(b) does not apply in the present case just because the victim that appellant assaulted with a pistol was a police officer rather than an ordinary citizen. Moreover, since appellant's counsel argued successfully before the trial court that the two offenses were essentially the same, he cannot change his position on appeal. See Mitchell v. United States, 569 A.2d 177, 180 (D.C.), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 986, 111 S.Ct. 521, 112 L.Ed.2d 532 (1990). The trial court granted appellant's request to deny the instruction on the count for assault with a dangerous weapon since there [was] no distinction between ... the charge of assault on a police officer ... with a dangerous weapon and assault with a dangerous weapon[,] aside from the fact that [a] police officer [was] involved. The trial court refused to dismiss the charge of possession of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, however, because the court viewed an assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon as an assault with a dangerous weapon when the person being assaulted is a police officer. Appellant cannot now be allowed to reverse the position he took at trial in order to disavow the implications that flow from it. See Mitchell, supra, 569 A.2d at 180; Byrd v. United States, 502 A.2d 451, 452-53 (D.C. 1985). Further, appellant incorrectly relies on Thomas v. United States, 93 U.S.App.D.C. 282, 210 F.2d 21 (1954) (per curiam), because the issues in Thomas are inapposite to the issues in the present case. In Thomas, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit addressed the sole issue of whether the sentence imposed [for armed robbery with a pistol, D.C.Code § 22-2901 (1951),] was greater than the maximum permissible by law. Thomas, supra, 93 U.S.App.D.C. at 283, 210 F.2d at 22 (citation omitted). The trial court had ruled that Thomas was subject to an additional penalty under D.C.Code § 22-3202 (1951) for committing a crime of violence, robbery, while armed with a firearm or other dangerous weapon. The appellate court reversed the judgment of the trial court, however, and held that because robbery was not included within the statutory definition of crime of violence under D.C.Code § 22-3201, the defendant's conviction for that offense could not be subject to an enhanced sentence under D.C.Code § 22-3202. [11] Moreover, because the appellate court held that the enhanced sentence imposed in Thomas exceeded the fifteen-year maximum permissible term under D.C.Code § 22-2901, the court vacated the appellant's sentence and remanded the case for resentencing. That precise sentencing issue resolved by the Thomas court is not an issue for resolution in the present case. Unlike the appellant in Thomas, whose enhanced sentence was imposed pursuant to a sentencing statute, see D.C.Code § 22-3202(b), the appellant in the present case was eligible for a statutorily prescribed sentence because of his conviction for a substantive offense under D.C.Code § 22-3204(b). [U]nlike [22-]3202, [a sentencing statute,] the application of which is dependent upon a conviction for an underlying offense, [22-]3204(b) provides for a separate and independent [substantive] criminal offense. Thomas, supra, 602 A.2d at 651. See also Freeman, supra, 600 A.2d at 1072-73 (recognizing that D.C.Code § 22-3204 is not an enhancement provision, but rather a new offense). It may be logical for determining the maximum permissible sentence for an offense to require that the offense for which the defendant is convicted and sentenced be exactly as listed in the definitional section. However, when interpreting a statutory provision establishing as an entirely separate offense the use of a firearm while committing a crime of violence, we think it reasonable to conclude that the section is violated when the crime committed encompasses a crime of violence as defined, whether or not the defendant is convicted of that precise crime. In Thomas, 93 U.S.App.D.C. at 283, 210 F.2d at 22, the lesser-included offense of assault with intent to commit robbery was recognized in D.C.Code § 22-3201 as a crime of violence; robbery, the greater offense for which the appellant in Thomas was convicted, was not recognized by that statute. In the present case, however, as appellant's trial counsel successfully argued, the offense of assault on a police officer with a dangerous weapon is essentially the same as the offense of assault with a dangerous weapon, an offense recognized in D.C.Code § 22-3201 for which a statutorily-prescribed sentence can be imposed. For the foregoing reasons, we hold that appellant's challenge to his conviction of possession of a firearm during a crime of violence is also without merit. Accordingly, the judgment appealed from hereby is Affirmed.