United States Sixth Circuit

Because the government presented no evidence regarding ownership of gun or of the car in which it was found, and did not lift any fingerprints from the gun, and because the defendant was not the sole occupant of the car, the district court erred in applying the two-level sentence enhancement under U.S.S.G. section 2D1.1(b)(1) for possession of a firearm in connection with a drug trafficking offense.

Appellate Information

• Argued 07/12/2001
• Decided 02/28/2002
• Published 02/28/2002

Judges

• Before:  SILER and GILMAN, Circuit Judges;  DONALD, District Judge.

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Terry M. Cushing, Asst. U.S. Atty. (briefed), Mark L. Miller, Asst. U.S. Atty. (briefed), C. Dean Furman, Jr. (argued), Office of U.S. Atty., Louisville, KY, for Plaintiff-Appellee., Marcus Lavale Lucas, Federal Correctional Institution, Ashland, KY, Scott T. Wendelsdorf, Patrick J. Bouldin, Asst. F.P. Defender (argued and briefed), Western Kentucky Federals Office, Community Defender, Inc., Louisville, KY, for Defendant-Appellant.