United States Eighth Circuit

Grant of a motion for acquittal and conditional grant of a new trial following defendant's conviction for firearm- and drug-related offenses are reversed where: 1) despite another individual's claim of ownership and placement of the gun at issue, a reasonable jury could have concluded defendant constructively possessed the firearm, which was in a shoebox in a room he shared; 2) given that conclusion, the evidence was sufficient to sustain his conviction for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense; and 3) grant of a motion for new trial on the firearm counts was an abused of discretion.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/05/2007
• Published 02/05/2007

Judges

• RILEY, Circuit Judge., Before WOLLMAN, RILEY, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Clifford D. Wendel, Asst. U.S. Attorney, Andrew H. Kahl, U.S. Attorney's Office, argued, Des Moines, IA, for Appellant., Robert Stanford Johnson, Des Moines, IA, pro se.


• For Appellees:
  
• James M. Fox, argued, Boston, MA, for Appellee.