Court Opinion

ID: 9485783
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 11:29:38.563016+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:51:21.079011
License: Public Domain

LAY, Senior Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I join the opinion of the majority that dismissal of the indictment was premature because the government had not yet had an opportunity to prove separate use of the firearms involved. I agree a remand is required under United States v. Lucas, 932 F.2d 1210, 1223 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 199, 116 L.Ed.2d 159 (1991). I believe this is the narrow basis of our holding.
I do not endorse the broad reasoning used by our panel in United States v. Freisinger, 937 F.2d 383, 389-90 (8th Cir.1991), which seems to authorize prosecution for each firearm a defendant possesses during and in relation to a single crime of violence or drug trafficking regardless of whether there is proof of separate use. As the district court pointed out, other circuits have held to the contrary. See United States v. Lindsay, 985 F.2d 666, 674-76 (2d Cir.1993) (relying on legislative history to conclude that if the government links multiple firearms to a single crime only one § 924(c)(1) violation occurs), petition for cert. filed (U.S. May 5, 1993) (No. 92-8626); United States v. Moore, 958 F.2d 310, 312-14 (10th Cir.1992) (a single violation of section 924(c) occurs despite the presence of multiple firearms); United States v. Hamilton, 953 F.2d 1344, 1346 (11th Cir.) (use of more than one gun during a single drug trafficking offense will not support multiple counts under section 924(c)), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 204, 121 L.Ed.2d 145 (1992); United States v. Privette, 947 F.2d 1259, 1962 (5th Cir.1991) (use of more than one gun will not support multiple counts under section 924(c) for use of a firearm during a single drug trafficking crime), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1279, 117 L.Ed.2d 505 (1992); United States v. Henning, 906 F.2d 1392, 1399 (10th Cir.1990) (where defendant has been convicted of a single drug trafficking offense and more than one firearm was involved, a single violation of section 924(c)(1) occurs), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1069, 111 S.Ct. 789, 112 L.Ed.2d 852 (1991); United States v. Henry, 878 F.2d 937, 942-45 (6th Cir.1989) (multiple convictions under section 924(c) not proper merely because more than one gun was used); United States v. Fontanilla, 849 F.2d 1257, 1258-59 (9th Cir.1988) (per curiam) (because murder and assault were properly charged as separate crimes, it was permissible to charge appellant with a separate firearm charge for each crime). In fact in the Fifth Circuit case of Privette, a case decided after Freisinger, the government conceded that use of more than one gun would not support multiple counts under 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) during a single drug trafficking crime. Privette, 947 F.2d at 1262.
If the government plans to prosecute Canterbury separately under section 924(c)(1) for each gun as seemingly endorsed by Freisinger, and if the defendant is convicted on multiple counts, the convictions should be presented to this court en banc. This court will then decide whether to follow the approach from Freisinger or the more logical and common sense approach of the Ninth, Sixth, Tenth, Fifth, Eleventh, and Second Circuits. The direction we decide upon takes on substantial additional significance because of the possibility that a second, simultaneous conviction under § 924(c)(1) will call for an additional, consecutive 20-year sentence. See Deal v. United States, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 1993, 124 L.Ed.2d 44 (1993).1

. The government conceded in the district court that under Freisinger the defendant could be sentenced for only one § 924(c)(1) violation. In its arguments to this court, however, the government appears to retreat from this position.