First Circuit upholds marijuana and gun convictions, though not without reservations

Last week, the First Circuit issued an opinion upholding a 5 year mandatory minimum sentence for possession of a gun in furtherance of a drug trafficking charge, based on possession of marijuana with intent to distribute.  

The government found about 7.5 ounces of marijuana in the defendant’s car, along with a gun about three feet from the marijuana.  At trial, the defendant testified that the marijuana was for his own use:

He stressed that the marijuana found in his van was for his own personal use and claimed he smoked between 10 and 12 joints per day, with each joint containing 1 to 2 grams of marijuana. He estimated that, after he removed the stems and seeds, the 7.5-ounce bag found in his car would yield only 5 or 5.5 ounces of usable drug. Thus, he figured he only had enough marijuana to make about 50 joints, which he said would last him a week or two. He explained that buying his marijuana in bulk was more economical, more convenient, and reduced the risk of getting caught.

The jury sided with the government and, on appeal, the First Circuit rejected the defendant’s sufficiency of the evidence challenges (both on proof of an intent to distribute the marijuana and proof that the gun was possessed in furtherance of the marijuana possession.)  

The case is most noteworthy for the majority’s conclusion, in which it expresses some reservations about the outcome and the government’s decision to charge the case as it did in the first place:

Before we wrap up, we pause to make explicit our ambivalence towards the jury’s findings. While it is clear that Bobadilla guiltily possessed a small quantity of marijuana  and an illegal firearm, whether he intended to distribute that marijuana, as well as whether he possessed the firearm “in furtherance of” a drug trafficking crime, are harder questions. The jury answered “yes” to both. Another jury may have concluded otherwise. Obviously too, another prosecutor could have opted to indict Bobadilla on lesser charges, i.e., simple possession of marijuana and an unlicensed firearm. This prosecutor chose not to, as was within her discretion. And at this stage, we are duty-bound to enforce the jury’s amply supported verdict. Consequently, today, like September 27, 2011, is not Bobadilla’s lucky day.

The decision is an interesting one for thinking about the scope of sufficiency of the evidence review.  The majority feels the need to express its “ambivalence” about the jury’s verdict.  But it does not feel ambivalent enough to disturb it.