United States v. Dortch, No. 10-14772 (11th Cir. 2012)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his convictions for being a felon in possession of a firearm, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and possession of a firearm in connection with drug trafficking. At issue, among other things, was whether the district court committed plain error by constructively amending an indictment that charged possession of two specific kinds of firearms, a Taurus .45 pistol and an Arminius revolver, by instructing the jury that it could find defendant guilty of the charges if the government proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he possessed "a firearm." The court held that any error in submitting the unredacted indictment to the jury was harmless; the district court did not plainly err in its instructions to the jury that it could convict defendant of the firearm charges if it found that he possessed any firearm instead of the specific firearms named in the indictment; and defendant's acquittal on state charges was inadmissible hearsay. Accordingly, the court affirmed the convictions.
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