U.S. v. Johnson

In prosecution on possession of firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking crime, Dist. Ct. did not err in submitting instruction to jury that purported to explain “in furtherance of” element of charge with factors identified in Duran, 407 F.3d 828, that had been proposed by govt., as well as dictionary definition of “facilitate” that had been proposed by defendant. Said instruction effectively gave jury its task, listed considerations to weigh in its discretion, iterated proper legal standard and clearly informed jury that it must determine whether firearm furthered, advanced, moved forward or facilitated crime. Moreover, record contained sufficient evidence to support jury’s guilty verdict on said charge, where: (1) defendant’s Facebook messages indicated that he had conducted drug deal earlier on day of his arrest; (2) at time of his arrest, defendant’s pockets contained drugs that he had packaged individually for sale, as well as other drug accoutrements and loaded gun; and (3) jury could determine that defendant had carried loaded gun to protect himself and his drugs on night he was arrested.