By: Derek Hawkins//August 13, 2018//
7th Circuit Court of Appeals
Case Name: United States of America v. Keenan Davis
Case No.: 17-2814
Officials: BAUER, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges
Focus: Sufficiency of Evidence
Keenan Davis was charged with and convicted of two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), arising from two unrelated incidents. Davis appeals three evidentiary rulings as to testimony from three witnesses, and argues that the government failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove Count Two.
The government argues three facts, taken together, provide sufficient circumstantial evidence to connect Davis to the revolver and support the jury’s conclusion: (1) the government’s establishment of Davis as the head of the household; (2) the discovery of three Crown Royal bags in the apartment, one holding the revolver and a second tied to Davis’s pants; and (3) a reasonable inference that J.R. lied in his testimony to protect his father, as well as the jail calls that allowed a jury to conclude Davis attempted to influence J.R.’s testimony. All of this taken together, the government argues, provides sufficient circumstantial evidence to conclude Davis constructively possessed the revolver. We agree.
Affirmed