Sentencing — possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug offense

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U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit

Criminal

Sentencing — possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug offense

Where the defendant possessed a firearm and controlled substances at the same time, his sentence was properly enhanced pursuant to U.S.S.G. 2K2.1(c).

“[N]umerous courts and the Sentencing Commission itself have recognized the potential for § 2K2.1 to sweep within its reach wide-ranging offenses that may be connected only tenuously. Firearms may be possessed over a long period of time and that raises the potential for the use of a felon-in-possession conviction as an anchor to reach all kinds of other conduct through that enhancement provision. Courts have long recognized the potential for abuse, and many have limited that reach by holding that other offenses must fall within relevant conduct in order to trigger the § 2K2.1(c) enhancement. See, e.g., United States v. Jones, 313 F.3d 1019, 1022–23 (7th Cir. 2002); United States v. Kulick, 629 F.3d 165, 169 (3rd Cir. 2010) and cases cited therein. The Sentencing Commission also has addressed that concern in an amendment effective November 1, 2014, which eliminates the incorporation of offenses that involved a firearm other than the firearm used in the offense of conviction, and clarifies that courts must consider the relationship between the offense of conviction and the other offense consistent with relevant conduct principles. U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1 Proposed Application Note 14(E), effective November 1, 2014. The limitations of the relevant conduct consideration will protect against some of the feared abuse. Those legitimate concerns with overreaching, however, are simply not present here because the firearm offense involved the possession of a weapon that was also in the defendant’s possession hours earlier in the course of drug sales, and clearly falls within the scope of relevant conduct. Harper therefore has raised no meritorious challenge to his sentence.”

Affirmed.

13-3161 U.S. v. Harper

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois, Murphy, J., Rovner, J.