Sentencing — use of a firearm in connection with a violent felony

Listen to this article

United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Criminal

Sentencing — use of a firearm in connection with a violent felony

Where there was only a single use of a single gun, and the predicate offenses were committed simultaneously without any differentiation in conduct, the defendant can only be convicted of one count of use of a firearm in connection with a violent felony.

“Because Cureton only used a firearm once, in the simultaneous commission of two predicate offenses, we agree with him that he may only stand convicted of one violation of § 924(c). In doing so, we agree with reasoning like that in the District of Columbia Circuit’s decision in United States v. Wilson, 160 F.3d 732 (D.C. Cir. 1998). There, a defendant killed a witness scheduled to testify at a trial. For that single act, the defendant was convicted of two violations of § 924(c) predicated on the crimes of first-degree murder and killing a witness with the intent to prevent him from testifying. But the circuit court vacated one of the § 924(c) convictions, reasoning that however many crimes may have been committed by shooting the potential witness, there was only one use of a firearm. Id. at 749-50. The court reiterated its conclusion in an earlier decision that the statute’s purpose was to penalize the choice of using or carrying a gun in committing a crime. See id. (citing Anderson, 59 F.3d at 1333).”

Affirmed in part, and Vacated in part.

12-1250 & 12-1251 U.S. v. Cureton

Appeals from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Murphy, J., Williams, J.