U.S. v. Adams

In prosecution on unlawful possession of firearm by felon charge, Dist. Ct. did not err in denying defendant’s motion to suppress items from his apartment that were seized by police pursuant to search warrant. While defendant argued that police lacked probable cause to support issuance of warrant, Dist. Ct. could properly find that probable cause supported issuance of warrant, where: (1) defendant was stopped in girlfriend’s car that contained drug paraphernalia; (2) girlfriend told police that she and defendant shared bedroom in defendant’s apartment, and that bedroom contained additional drug paraphernalia and firearm; (3) girlfriend had been in defendant’s apartment that day and gave police key to search safe; (4) police were aware of defendant’s prior drug conviction, as well as anonymous tips that defendant had been involved in drug activities; and (5) search of apartment produced gun as described by girlfriend. Also, Dist. Ct. did not err in increasing defendant’s offense level under section 2K2.1(a)(4) of USSG based on defendant’s prior Illinois methamphetamine conspiracy conviction that qualified as “controlled substance offense,” even though Guideline itself did not include drug conspiracies as such offenses. Under Raupp, 677 F.3d 756, Ct. found that inclusion of drug conspiracy offenses in Application Note to section 2K2.1(a)(4) allowed Dist. Ct. to view defendant’s drug conspiracy offense as controlled substance offense.