United States v. Garcia, No. 13-1344 (6th Cir. 2014)
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A Kalamazoo resident heard gunfire and called 911. Hearing additional gunshots, she peered through her window and saw someone “dart off.” She described a person wearing a baseball cap and an orange, thigh-length coat with fur around the hood. Officers arrived at the apartment complex minutes later and saw Garcia, wearing a white jacket. They decided to follow him. Garcia ran, climbed over a fence, and fell to the ground. As he stood up, an officer noticed that “some objects had fallen from his person.” Garcia then continued to run and fell into some brush. Garcia resisted arrest, but once he was in a squad car Garcia expressed concern about “his hat.” A search of the area where objects were seen falling from Garcia’s person revealed a baseball cap and a silver revolver. Snow had fallen within 24 hours, and there were no tracks except those of Garcia and the officers. The temperature was 23 degrees, but beads of water appeared on the revolver. No fingerprints were found on the gun. No gunshot residue tests were performed. Although the gun was swabbed for DNA, no tests were conducted. Garcia was convicted as a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(1), and sentenced to 96 months of imprisonment. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, rejecting challenges that the evidence was insufficient to establish that Garcia possessed the revolver, that the prosecutor improperly vouched for the credibility of a government witness during closing arguments, and that the sentence was unreasonable.
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