Opinion ID: 6982210
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bailey Jury Instruction

Text: • The jury requested during deliberations “a definition of used and carried a firearm.” J.A. at 1966 (Bench Conference). The district court gave the jury an instruction of “use” that read, in part, “the firearm was in the defendant’s possession or under the defendant’s control at the time that a drug trafficking crime was committed.” J.A. at 1965 (Bench Conference). The defendants claim that their firearms convictions should be reversed because this jury instruction was in error in light of Bailey. Because the instruction would allow a jury to find that the defendant used the firearm without any active employment, the instruction was clearly erroneous in light of the subsequent decision in Bailey, which the government concedes. This court has issued a number of opinions dealing with jury instructions that were rendered erroneous by Bailey. See United States v. Allen, 106 F.3d 695, 701 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 520 U.S. 1281, 117 S.Ct. 2467, 138 L.Ed.2d 223 (1997); United States v. Anderson, 89 F.3d 1306 (6th Cir.1996); United States v. Moore, 76 F.3d 111 (6th Cir.1996); Taylor, 102 F.3d at 769-71. In both Anderson and Taylor, this court applied plain error analysis because the defendants failed to object to the jury instructions, even though at the time the instructions were given this court had accepted the fortress theory of § 924(c)(1) liability. The other two cases focused simply on the question of whether it was possible that the jury instruction led the jury to base the conviction on impermissible grounds, without specifically stating the level of review. Here, Hough and Curtis did object to the jury instructions at trial, and their convictions should be reviewed under a harmless error analysis. The other defendants did not independently object, but the district court had previously agreed to accept an objection by one of the defendants as an objection by all. We analyze whether the erroneous jury instruction prejudiced each of the defendants. Under harmless error analysis, reversal is warranted only if the instruction affected a substantial right of the defendants. See Fed. R.Crim. P. 52(a). Hough and Anthony Gibbs were both indicted for carrying firearms on their persons during crack cocaine transactions. The erroneous jury instruction defining “use” could not have affected their convictions because no properly instructed reasonable juror could have found that the defendants did not carry the firearms. Had we not reversed for insufficiency of the evidence Needum’s conviction on Count 97, which relates to his robbery of Agent Russell after retrieving a pistol from Curtis’s apartment, we would have to reverse Needum’s Count 97 conviction on this ground. Even if a jury could find that robbing a person with a gun obtained after the drug transaction was completed could still be during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime, the erroneous instruction allowed the jury to base its conviction on the theory that Needum constructively possessed the firearm while he engaged in the drug sale with Russell. Needum was therefore prejudiced by this jury instruction. Had we not reversed Needum’s and Curtis’s convictions on Count 103, regarding the gun found on the same set of shelving as the baggie of crack in Curtis’s apartment, we would have to reverse the Count 103 convictions on this ground. Again, the jury could have based its conviction on constructive possession of the firearm rather than on the government’s theory that they actively displayed the firearm during and in relation to an underlying drug trafficking offense. Needum and Curtis were therefore prejudiced by this instruction. Finally, Woods’s conviction on Count 147, which the government concedes should be reversed for insufficient evidence, would also have to be reversed on this ground. Again, the jury instruction impermissibly allowed the jury to convict based on the now-defunct fortress theory of § 924(c)(1) liability. Therefore we uphold the § 924(c)(1) convictions of Hough on Count 82 and Anthony Gibbs on Count 133. We reverse the § 924(c)(1) convictions of Needum on Counts 97 and 103, Curtis on Count 103, and Woods on Count 147.