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Insufficient Evidence in a Gun Case; Third-Party Consents

By Bill Theis

United States v. Daniel Groves, Sr., No. 05-2902 (November 22, 2006): This case raises two issues that are related only in the sense that they arose in the same case.Mr. Groves was charged with being a felon in possession of a gun. No gun was ever recovered, but the government called an expert who stated that Indiana (the place of the alleged crime) is not the home to any "major" manufacturers of shotguns. The expert never expanded on what he considered to be a "major" manufacturer.On appeal, it was argued that there was insufficient proof that the gun had traveled in interstate commerce, an argument that was not developed at trial in the Rule 29 motion. Considering this argument on a plain error basis, the Seventh Circuit found it persuasive, while noting that it rarely reverses for insufficiency of the evidence...continue to full post

Full post as published by Seventh Circuit Blog on November 27, 2006 (boomark / email).