Court Opinion

ID: 9952544
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-03-20 00:00:38.265542+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:40:42.038088
License: Public Domain

Case: 23-30475            Document: 60-1         Page: 1      Date Filed: 03/19/2024

           United States Court of Appeals
                for the Fifth Circuit
                                   ____________
                                                                      United States Court of Appeals
                                                                               Fifth Circuit
                                    No. 23-30475
                                  Summary Calendar
                                                                             FILED
                                                                        March 19, 2024
                                  ____________
                                                                        Lyle W. Cayce
United States of America,                                                    Clerk

                                                                    Plaintiff—Appellee,

                                          versus

Michael Craig Singleton, Jr.,

                                            Defendant—Appellant.
                   ______________________________

                   Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Western District of Louisiana
                            USDC No. 2:22-CR-264-1
                   ______________________________

Before King, Haynes, and Graves, Circuit Judges.
Per Curiam: *
       Michael Craig Singleton, Jr., pleaded guilty to possession with intent
to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to 60 months in prison. On appeal,
he argues that the district court erred in determining that he was not eligible
to be sentenced pursuant to U.S.S.G § 5C1.2 because he possessed a firearm
in connection with the offense. We review the district court’s findings of fact

       _____________________
       *
           This opinion is not designated for publication. See 5th Cir. R. 47.5.
Case: 23-30475            Document: 60-1      Page: 2     Date Filed: 03/19/2024

pertaining to sentencing under § 5C1.2 for clear error and consider its legal
interpretation of § 5C1.2 de novo. See United States v. Vasquez, 161 F.3d 909,
910 (5th Cir. 1998).
          Singleton concedes that he possessed a firearm in the center console
of the vehicle that he was driving and of which he was the only occupant but
argues that this possession was not related to the cocaine that was in a spare
tire on the undercarriage of the vehicle. He asserts that the firearm was left
accidentally in the vehicle by his brother, he placed the firearm in the center
console for his brother to retrieve, and the firearm played no role in his drug
trafficking activities.
          The record supports that there was the necessary temporal and spatial
relationship between the firearm, the offense, and Singleton. See id. at 912;
United States v. Guidry, 960 F.3d 676, 683 & n.7 (5th Cir. 2020). Further,
Singleton did not show that it is clearly improbable that the firearm, which
was loaded and readily accessible to him in a car transporting cocaine, was
connected to the drug offense. See Guidry, 960 F.3d at 683; Vasquez, 161 F.3d
at 912.
          Thus, the district court did not clearly err in refusing to apply § 5C1.2.
The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.