Opinion ID: 2974231
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Count Two of the Indictment

Text: Lloyd argues on appeal that the second count of the indictment failed to charge a crime. The sufficiency of an indictment is reviewed de novo. United States v. Gatewood, 173 F.3d 983, 986 (6th Cir. 1999). However, Lloyd did not challenge the sufficiency of count two of the indictment until this appeal. Where an indictment goes unchallenged until appeal, it must be liberally construed in favor of its sufficiency. Id. Under such circumstances, a conviction must not be reversed unless the indictment cannot be reasonably construed to charge a crime. Id. The second count of the indictment charges Lloyd with violating 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). This subsection creates two distinct criminal offenses. United States v. Combs, 369 F.3d 925, 933 (6th Cir. 2004). The first is using or carrying a firearm “during and in relation to any crime of violence or drug trafficking crime.” The second distinct offense is possessing a firearm “in furtherance of any such crime.” The “in furtherance of” standard of participation related to the possession crime is a higher standard than the “during and in relation to” standard of participation related to the use or carrying crime. Id. at 932 (citing H.R. Rep. No. 105-344, at 11 (1997)). Therefore, this circuit has held that where an indictment applies the wrong standard of participation No. 04-4014 United States v. Lloyd Page 3 and charges a person with “possess[ing] a firearm during and in relation to” a drug trafficking crime, the indictment fails to charge any codified federal crime.1 Combs, 369 F.3d at 934. Lloyd contends that the second count of the indictment failed to charge a crime because it suffered from the same defect present in the Combs indictment. The government argues that, unlike in Combs, the indictment in this case did not charge Lloyd with possession of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The government points out that the second count of the indictment charged Lloyd with both using or carrying a firearm during and in relation to an armed robbery and with possession of a firearm in furtherance of an armed robbery. The language of the indictment demonstrates that the government’s position is correct. The second count of the indictment charged that “during and in relation to” an armed robbery Lloyd “did knowingly use and carry, and in furtherance of such armed bank robbery did knowingly possess a firearm, that is, a semi-automatic handgun, and in the course of committing said armed bank robbery offense.” (JA 9-10.) This language does not fail to charge any crime, but in fact charges two separate crimes.
Lloyd argues in the alternative that his conviction on count two of the indictment must be overturned because it is impermissibly duplicitous. As discussed above, count two does charge two separate crimes. However, although “a duplicitous charge calls into questions the unanimity of a verdict of guilty . . . such a charge is not prejudicial per se, because proper jury instructions can mitigate the risk of jury confusion and alleviate the doubt that would otherwise exist as to whether all members of the jury had found the defendant guilty of the same offense.” United States v. Savoires, 430 F.3d 376, 380 (6th Cir. 2005). Moreover, Lloyd did not seek to dismiss the duplicitous count of the indictment before trial or challenge the jury instructions. Consequently, this court may overturn the conviction on count two only if there was plain error which affected Lloyd’s substantial rights. Fed. R. Crim. P. 52(b); United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 731-36 (1993). Lloyd’s argument primarily relies upon a recent case which found plain error in a similar situation. Savoires, 430 F.3d at 376. The Savoires case, like this case, addressed a count in an indictment which was plainly duplicitous because it charged both the use and possession offenses outlined in 18 U.S.C. 924(c)(1)(A).2 However, the Savoires court pointed out that “proper jury instructions can mitigate the risk of jury confusion and alleviate the doubt that would otherwise exist as to whether all members of the jury had found the defendant guilty of the same offense.” 430 F.3d at 380. The jury instructions in Savoires required the jury to find that “during and in relation to the commission of that crime, the defendant knowingly used or carried or possessed a firearm.” Id. at 379. The court held that this did not obviate the confusion created by the indictment. Instead the instructions compounded the problem by authorizing a conviction if the jury found that the defendant had only possessed a firearm during and in relation to the commission of a crime of violence. As the Combs court pointed out, such actions would not constitute any codified federal crime. 369 F.3d at 934. The Savoires court concluded that the duplicitous charge in the indictment combined with the problematic jury instructions affected the defendant’s substantial rights. 430 F.3d at 381. 1 The opposite mistake of charging use or carriage of a firearm in furtherance of a violent or drug trafficking crime would not create this problem because a fact-finder’s determination that the higher “in furtherance of” standard of participation was met, would mean the lower “during and in relation to” standard would necessarily be met as well. See United States v. Williams, 138 F. App’x 743, 747 (6th Cir. 2005) (unpublished). 2 The criminal trials in both Savoires and this case were conducted before this court ruled in Combs that § 924(c)(1)(A) creates two distinct criminal offenses. No. 04-4014 United States v. Lloyd Page 4 The government argues that this case is distinguishable from Savoires for a number of reasons. Foremost among these is the fact that the jury instructions in this case were materially different than those given in Savoires. In this case the district court explained to the jury that it is an offense to either (1) use or carry a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence or (2) possess a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence. (JA 357.) Moreover, in setting forth the third element necessary to a guilty verdict on count two, the district court instructed that the jury must find “that during and in relation to the commission of that crime, the Defendant, Lawrence W. Lloyd, knowingly used or carried a firearm or, in furtherance of the crime, possessed a firearm.” (JA 367, emphasis added). Consequently, these instructions did not suffer from the same defect as those in the Savoires case of authorizing a conviction based on actions which do not constitute a federal crime. Although the district court explained the separate use and possession offenses properly to the jury, that does not dispense with the concern that different members of the jury might have convicted based on different offenses without a unanimous verdict on either offense. The district court did not explicitly direct the jury that unanimity on either the use or possession offense was necessary to a guilty verdict. However, the verdict form provided to the jury made no mention at all of the possession offense. Instead, the verdict form which was signed by each juror stated that the jury found Lloyd guilty of “carrying or using, and brandishing, a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.” (JA 32.) Even if the jury instructions and verdict form were not sufficient to cure the error in the indictment, Lloyd would still not be able to demonstrate that his substantial rights were affected. Lloyd’s right to a unanimous jury verdict is certainly substantial. However, given the factual context of this case, there is no indication that the duplicitous indictment affected that right. In other words, Lloyd has not demonstrated prejudice. See Olano, 507 U.S. at 734 (observing that in order for plain error to affect substantial rights the error must have been prejudicial, i.e. affected the outcome of the trial). The uncontroverted evidence at trial established that the bank robber pointed a gun at the teller and stuck the gun in her ribs in order to get her to comply with his demands. Lloyd does not challenge these facts, but argues that he was not the person who committed the robbery. The jury determined that Lloyd was the robber, and Lloyd cannot challenge the unanimity of that decision. The uncontroverted facts about the role of the firearm in the robbery are more than sufficient to support both a use offense and a possession offense. Consequently, Lloyd has failed to established that the language of the indictment had any effect at all on his right to a unanimous jury verdict. Count two of the indictment was duplicitous, but the jury instructions clarified the two separate offenses and the verdict form reflects that all members of the jury convicted Lloyd of the use offense. Moreover, the alleged error did not affect Lloyd’s substantial rights. There is no basis to overturn the conviction on the second count of the indictment.