Court Opinion

ID: 9479965
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 07:33:56.693199+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:47:23.813606
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
Defendant Bronaugh, now twenty years of age, pleaded guilty to a single charge only of procuring a particular firearm by making a false statement and causing a “straw man” purchase of the .45 L.A.R. Grizzly pistol on October 2, 1988. The probation officer gave information in a pre-sentence report that within a week after the indictment episode, defendant was arrested at the Detroit airport for possession of crack cocaine.1 At a sentencing hearing, there was evidence that defendant had participated with others in extensive trafficking in cocaine at a crack house location in Akron, Ohio, during the summer and early fall of 1988, and that there were weapons seen in that house. Defendant had two prior juvenile adjudications. The available records did not indicate whether Bronaugh was represented by an attorney in the juvenile proceedings, but he was placed in foster care and ordered to make restitution in respect to those charges.
The district court found that the government established that “the defendant did use the firearm obtained as described in the indictment in his ongoing operation with others of a house where cocaine powder and cocaine crystals were found.” (Emphasis added). It determined that “the provisions of 2K2.1(c)(l) do apply.”2
The testimony of the witnesses at the sentencing hearing related to drug activity, in which defendant was involved, that likely occurred prior to the indictment offense in question in the summer of 1988. Pam Hamilton testified that in the period of time when she was present there (she was in a drug rehabilitation center and in a hospital during much of October and November 1988), she had seen people, including defendant, in the house in question with guns. (“I guess it was like .45s, the Uzi.”) The United States Attorney, at the hearing, conceded “she did not identify the weapon as a .45 caliber, however.”
Gibson, the “straw man” involved in the weapon purchase, was vague and ambivalent about times and dates. He testified as follows at the hearing, after admitting that he told a government agent he had “never seen Bronaugh after” going to purchase the guns on October 12:
A. It was after that. I didn’t see — me and Pam broke up and I moved out of town and I haven’t seen Pam nor J [defendant] after that.
Q. That was in November of ’88?
A. I guess.
Q. So your testimony is that you saw him every day after June, sometime in June through October; is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you actually see cocaine on his person, in his hands?
A. Yes.
Q. Did you actually see him bringing cocaine into the house?
A. Yes.
Q. And you also testified that you saw him with weapons?
A. Yes.
Q. Was this on one occasion or—
A. A few times, the time he came and the time he left.
Q. But you testified you only saw three guns in the house?
A. Right.
*253Q. Did you actually see him with one of the guns?
A. The rifle.
Q. And that was the only thing you saw him with?
A. Right.
Q. The only weapon?
A. Right.
Q. And that’s during that entire period of June through October?
A. Right.
The presentence report, however, indicated that Gibson told ATF agents in November 1988 (six months prior to his hearing testimony) that on October 12, he, Pam Hamilton, defendant, and another party known as “K,” had gone to Sam’s Emporium to buy two pistols, chosen and paid for by Bronaugh, and that they had then gone to Pam’s house with the guns. It concluded: “Gibson told agents that he had not seen the defendant, ‘K,’ or the guns since that day.” He testified at another point that he had seen defendant in possession of a rifle at the Akron drug house. The weapon in question was never seized; no one testified definitively that Bronough was seen at the drug house with it, and the only weapon ever seized at that location was one AK-47 gun in March 1989. No one ever testified that the gun was ever used or displayed at the drug house, and I find no reasonable inference to that effect.
It seems clear to me that the burden was upon the government to show at the sentencing hearing that the particular weapon, which was the subject of the indictment, had to have been used in “committing or attempting another offense” for guideline § 2K2.1 to apply in this case. It also seems clear that the government failed to make the requisite showing, although it may have shown that Bronaugh used or possessed other weapons in respect to cocaine trafficking from June through September 1988. The government also demonstrated that Bronaugh possessed cocaine a week after the indictment offense at the Detroit airport. That offense, of course, has no direct relevance to the indictment offense.
Defendant has certainly been, based on the testimony of witnesses and the record information, involved in considerable criminal activity. He has been indicted, however, for obtaining one particular weapon on a certain date, but the district court failed to indicate how it found that this firearm was used in an ongoing drug operation. There was no connection demonstrated between that weapon and the Detroit airport state offense, which was still pending at the time of sentencing in this case.
I am troubled by what was done in this case. Defendant was sentenced for criminal activity (distribution of cocaine) for which he was never indicted. No reason was given as to why Bronaugh could not feasibly have been indicted, or be indicted and sentenced, beyond a term of five years for such activity.3 The government produced witnesses whose testimony clearly established this unlawful drug conduct, but there was a failure to tie this conduct to the particular .45 L.A.R, Grizzly pistol as is required under the guidelines, particularly § 2K2.1(c)(l). At the very least, the matter should be remanded to the district court to indicate just what evidence tied the indictment gun to the illegal drug activity, or any attempted illegal drug activity. I disagree that the evidence establishes that the indictment weapon was even by inference used in the drug house, although his appellate counsel seemed to infer that it might.4
What has occurred here seems to me to be a classic case of the tail wagging the dog. The district court has permitted the prosecution, without indictment, information or formal charge, and without a trial at which evidence would have to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, under *254guise of a relatively minor gun offense, to escalate the sentence based on unconnected charges involving drugs. The latter activity, in my view, was not shown even by a preponderance of the evidence to be directly related to the specific single weapon identified in the indictment.5 In this type of situation, the courts should require the government to bring forward the serious charge (in this case, the cocaine and drug house operation) for proof before a jury, especially where defendant was known to be involved in possession of other guns at the drug distribution location. I cannot countenance here a “back door” approach demonstrated by the circumstances of this case — to charge defendant with a single gun offense (with a base offense level of only 9, involving a sentence of less than one year) and then seek to sentence defendant with relation to other uncharged offenses without proof of a direct relationship between the relatively minor gun offense, the particular pistol, and the serious drug charges.6 I am further troubled by the failure of defendant’s counsel to pursue this problem at the sentencing hearing and in appellate argument in light of the district court’s questions and expressions of doubt, particularly since the particular weapon was never seized or identified at the crack house or at the Detroit airport. I find no real basis for his possible concession at oral argument that there was a fair inference that defendant took the weapon to the drug house. There is no evidence that anyone saw it displayed or used there.
I recognize that under the guidelines a district court may take into account related offenses, or tie an illegal acquisition of a weapon or weapons to a directly related criminal offense, or attempted offense, in which the weapon was utilized.
The commentary to § 2K2.1, quoted in the majority opinion, is simply not applicable to this situation. It refers to using this section as a device to exercise jurisdiction over offenses that “otherwise could be prosecuted only under state law.” The ongoing drug distribution offenses are clearly subject to federal prosecution. The airport cocaine seizure is already being prosecuted in a separate state proceeding. At issue in this case is the “true nature” of the single gun offense and whether it has been shown to have clearly and directly been involved in drug activity. I think not.
I would, therefore, reverse for resentenc-ing for the reasons indicated. The government could then proceed, if it chooses to do so, to charge defendant with the serious drug trafficking in separate proceedings. This would surely be in the interests of justice and fairness under the circumstances.

. The report also indicated that “ATF agents are of the opinion that defendant [and another party] were involved in the 'straw purchase’ of other firearms.” There was apparently no indictment with respect to other guns allegedly illegally obtained. There was no evidence that Bronaugh possessed the .45 L.A.R. Grizzly (or any other weapon) at the Detroit airport when arrested October 19, 1988.

. This guideline (now renumbered as 2K2.-1(c)(2)) states:
(c) Cross Reference
(1) If the defendant used the firearm in committing or attempting another offense, apply the guideline in respect to such other offense, or § 2X1.1 (Attempt or Conspiracy) if the resulting offense level is higher than that determined above.
(Emphasis added).

. He also might be indicted for conspiracy and involvement with others in acquiring other weapons in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(a)(6) and 924(a). It is a mystery why defendant was indicted for illegal acquisition of only one instead of two pistols on October 12, 1988.

. He stated that "we don’t have actual evidence that they went into the house.” The burden is upon the government to prove this essential fact.

. At least a preponderance of the evidence standard is required and the burden is upon the government to prove the necessary § 2K2.1(c)(l) relationship.

. The prosecutor stated at sentencing:
I believe the burden is on the government to show that gun was used to facilitate the use of cocaine, yes. And the evidence that we presented is simply the testimony evidence that the witnesses that were there at the house testified that guns were a definite part of this operation.
Everyone had guns. I believe Miss Hamilton said that Mr. Bronaugh had several pistols and which I believe she described as AK-47, he kept with him. She did not identify the weapon as a .45 caliber, however. She did identify it that he did have a pistol and did have a long gun.