Sentencing – Sufficiency of Evidence

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7^th Circuit Court of Appeals

Case Name: United States of America v. Daquwon Richardson

Case No.: 22-1690

Officials: Easterbrook, St. Eve, and Kirsch, Circuit Judges.

Focus: Sentencing – Sufficiency of Evidence

Driving alone in Indianapolis, Richardson committed a traffic violation and was stopped by police. A subsequent inventory search of the car uncovered a gun that, as a three-time convicted felon, Richardson could not lawfully possess. A jury convicted him of that offense, and the district court sentenced him as an armed career criminal to the mandatory-minimum 15 years in prison. Richardson appeals to overturn the jury’s verdict or, at least vacate his sentence.

Richardson argues that the government’s evidence was insufficient to support his conviction for possession of a firearm. See 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). Since he never made that argument below by moving for a judgment of acquittal, the Seventh Circuit only considers whether his conviction reflects a “manifest miscarriage of justice.” United States v. Chaparro, 956 F.3d 462, 468 (7th Cir. 2020)

The Seventh Circuit agrees with the district court’s conclusion that each robbery was committed on a different occasion

Decided 02/17/23

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