United States v. Stepp, No. 23-2029 (10th Cir. 2023)
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In February 2021, police officers found Justin Stepp, a convicted felon, with a gunshot wound in a car driven by his girlfriend, along with a firearm in the car’s console and ammunition under the passenger seat. A subsequent search of Stepp’s home uncovered more ammunition. Stepp was charged and convicted by a jury for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition. He appealed his conviction, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to prove he constructively possessed the firearm or ammunition, and that the court erred by including his 2002 conviction in its calculation of his base offense level. The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed Stepp’s conviction and sentence. The court found that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient for a reasonable trier of fact to find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Stepp had constructive possession of the ammunition found in his home. The court also concluded that the district court did not clearly err in finding Stepp’s 2002 conviction fell within the applicable fifteen-year lookback period for calculating his base offense level.
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