Opinion ID: 16301
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Sufficiency: Firearms charges

Text: Hipolito Gonzalez also challenges the sufficiency of the evidence underlying his convictions for carrying a firearm during a drug trafficking crime and for felon-in-possession. He does not dispute that there was a gun in plain view in the back seat, nor does he dispute his prior conviction for marijuana smuggling or the other statutory elements. Instead, he claims he was unaware of the gun's presence. Specifically, Hipolito claims that his mother, unbeknownst to him, placed her revolver (and ammunition) in the back seat of his pickup, and that he failed to notice it until after his unsuccessful pursuit of his brother's stolen car. As a sufficiency challenge, this claim fails. The jury opted not to believe Hipolito's version of the story. Hipolito was driving a pickup registered in his name with a gun in the back seat during a drug smuggling trip. The jury was entitled to conclude that Hipolito knew the gun was there.