01-1587 U.S. v. Conley

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“The cardinal rule for reading multi-count indictments is that each count must stand on its own two feet; ‘[e]ach count … is regarded as if it was a separate indictment.’ United States v. Powell, 469 U.S. 57, 62 (1984) (quoting Dunn v. United States, 284 U.S. 390, 393 (1932)); United States v. Sims, 144 F.3d 1082, 1085 (7th Cir. 1998). Thus, when an indictment charges two violations of 18 U.S.C. sec. 922(g)(1), on two specific dates, it follows that the defendant has been notified of the Government’s intent to prosecute him for unlawfully possessing a weapon in two separate courses of conduct. Furthermore, in this case, the interruption of possession was an element of neither of the offenses charged in the indictment. Conley could have been convicted on either one of the charges without any proof of interruption, because if Conley possessed the weapon in a continuous course of conduct beginning in July 1999 and continuing through January 2000, he would have been guilty of only one crime. Rivera, 77 F.3d at 1351; Horodner, 993 F.2d at 193. Therefore, although interruption was another fact that the Government was required to prove in order to obtain successful convictions on more than one count, it was not necessary to allege this fact in any of the counts in the indictment itself. Accordingly, we reject Conley’s claim that his convictions were tainted by a multiplicitous indictment. See, e.g., United States v. Smith, 230 F.3d 300, 305-06 & n.3 (7th Cir. 2000); United States v. Canino, 949 F.2d 928, 949 (7th Cir. 1992).”

Affirmed.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Moody, J., Coffey, J.