U.S. v. Jones

Record contained sufficient evidence to support jury’s guilty verdict on charge of possessing firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking crime, based on incident in which defendant sought to purchase firearm from undercover agent in which drugs were used by defendant to effectuate said purchase. Record established that defendant had constructively possessed said firearm, where: (1) defendant informed undercover agent on multiple occasions that he wanted to acquire said firearm in exchange for quantity of drugs; and (2) defendant exercised control over said firearm through his direction to third-party to effectuate said purchase with drugs and cash supplied by defendant. Moreover, said purchase was “in furtherance of” drug trafficking crime, where drugs were exchanged during purchase. Also, Dist. Ct. properly denied defendant’s motion to suppress witness’ identification of defendant as shooter during incident in which defendant mistakenly believed that witness was confidential informant, even though witness did not identify defendant as shooter during first viewing of six-person photo array, but identified him as shooter during second viewing of same photo array that occurred two months later. Fact that police used same photo array at second viewing was not unduly suggestive that defendant was culprit, and defendant’s photo was not more prominently displayed than two other prominent photos in array.