United States v. Perez, No. 19-1469 (3d Cir. 2021)
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Over a six-month period in 2017, Perez sold firearms and controlled substances to various confidential informants and undercover officers. On March 9, 2017, he sold two firearms to an undercover officer. During the transaction, the officer observed drugs, drug packaging materials, and drug paraphernalia in the same room as the two guns. Perez was later charged in three separate indictments involving sales of guns or drugs. One indictment concerned the March 9th transaction. Perez ultimately pled guilty to all three indictments. The Sentencing Guidelines range was 121-151 months, including a four-level enhancement per U.S.S.G. 2K2.1(b)(6)(B), which applies when the defendant “used or possessed any firearm . . . in connection with another felony offense,” concerning the March 9th transaction. The court concluded that the enhancement applied because the guns “were in close proximity to drugs and . . . drug material” and sentenced Perez to 121 months’ imprisonment.
The Third Circuit vacated. Mere physical proximity between guns and drugs is not enough to justify the significant increase in Perez’s Guidelines range. The Commentary to the Guidelines, on which the district court relied, creates a rebuttable presumption, rather than a bright-line rule, that the enhancement should apply when a defendant possesses guns and drugs together.
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