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Sufficiency of Evidence

By: Derek Hawkins//February 26, 2018//

Sufficiency of Evidence

By: Derek Hawkins//February 26, 2018//

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7th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Adrian Bailey

Case No.: 17-1031

Officials: MANION, KANNE, and ROVNER, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence

Adrian Bailey offered to sell marijuana to an informant who had already brokered the purchase of a firearm from him; the informant accepted the offer and purchased $40 worth of marijuana from Bailey contemporaneously with the firearm purchase. On that basis, Bailey was convicted after a bench trial of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. See 18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)(A). Bailey appeals the conviction, contending that the facts do not tie the gun and the marijuana purchase together so as to demonstrate that the gun actually furthered the marijuana sale; as he sees it, his possession of the firearm was simply coincident with the marijuana transaction. We disagree. Because it was the opportunity to purchase a firearm that brought the informant to Bailey and made possible the secondary sale of marijuana to the informant, the facts support the finding that Bailey’s possession of the weapon furthered the marijuana sale. We therefore affirm his conviction.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.

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