United States v. Harper, No. 18-1725 (7th Cir. 2019)
Annotate this CaseAn informant sent Harper a photograph of a pistol. Harper offered to trade five grams of crack cocaine. The informant and an undercover agent met Harper in a parking lot. The agent opened a toolbox containing the gun and handed the gun to Harper, who held it. Harper promised the crack cocaine would arrive within an hour; he got into the truck to wait. The agent returned the gun to the locked toolbox and placed the toolbox in Harper’s lap. The police arrived and arrested Harper. After Harper's first lawyer withdrew, his court-appointed lawyer unsuccessfully sought leave to withdraw. Harper entered a plea agreement, calling for 96 months’ incarceration—60 months for possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and 36 months for possession of a firearm by a felon and possession with intent to distribute. The judge explained the sentence to Harper. Harper said that the sentence was acceptable and confirmed that he had no other questions. The judge reviewed all the admonishments for a change of plea, then accepted his guilty plea. Months later, Harper moved to withdraw his plea, arguing that his lawyer was ineffective. Harper obtained new counsel, who argued that Harper did not “possess” a firearm because he never had “full control of th[e] firearm.” The Seventh Circuit affirmed the denial of the motion. Harper had at least constructive possession of the gun and cannot establish prejudice from any ineffective assistance.
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