United States v. Gilmore, No. 19-2106 (8th Cir. 2020)
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed defendant's conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon. The court held that the district court did not err by declining to accept defendant's proposed amendment to the jury instruction defining "possession;" the district court's jury instructions were accurate and defendant was not entitled to a particularly worded instruction as long as the instructions were fair and adequate; and the district court correctly informed the jury that constructive possession requires knowledge of the thing possessed.
The court also held that there was no plain error warranting relief based on the indictment or jury instructions; any Rehaif error did not affect defendant's substantial rights warranting relief; and there was sufficient evidence on the knowledge-of-status element to sustain the verdict.
Court Description: [Colloton, Author, with Benton, Circuit Judge and Williams, District Judge] Criminal case - Criminal law. The instruction the district court gave on possession correctly stated the law, and the district court did not err in denying defendant's request to modify it; nor did the court err in rejecting defendant's "theory of the case" defense instruction on the ground the instructions on reasonable doubt and possession conveyed the substance of the proposed instruction; any error in the indictment and jury instructions under Rehaif v. United States, 139 S.Ct. 2191 (2019) was not plain error warranting relief; there was sufficient evidence on the knowledge-of-status element to sustain the verdict; upholding the conviction would not result in a miscarriage of justice.
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