US v. Taylor

Filing

OPINION issued by Jeffrey R. Howard, Chief Appellate Judge; William J. Kayatta , Jr., Appellate Judge and David J. Barron, Appellate Judge. Published. [15-1775]

Case: 15-1775

Document: 00117102192

Page: 1

Date Filed: 01/09/2017

Entry ID: 6060360

United States Court of Appeals
For the First Circuit
No. 15-1775
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Appellee,
v.
DASEAN TAYLOR,
Defendant, Appellant.

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS
[Hon. Douglas P. Woodlock, U.S. District Judge]

Before
Howard, Chief Judge,
Kayatta and Barron, Circuit Judges.

Matthew A. Kamholtz on brief for appellant.
Carmen M. Ortiz, United States Attorney, and Mark
Quinlivan, Assistant U.S. Attorney, on brief for appellee.

January 9, 2017

T.

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BARRON, Circuit Judge.

Date Filed: 01/09/2017

Entry ID: 6060360

Dasean Taylor was convicted of

being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, in
violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g).
months' imprisonment.
that

the

District

enhancement

for

§ 2K2.1(b)(5).

He was sentenced to a term of 71

He now challenges his sentence, arguing
Court

erroneously

trafficking

in

applied

firearms

a

sentencing

under

U.S.S.G.

We affirm.
I.

On March 9, 2015, Taylor pled guilty to the offense of
being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C.
§ 922(g).

Prior to the sentencing hearing, the government had

submitted a motion requesting that the District Court apply the
trafficking in firearms enhancement under § 2K2.1(b)(5) of the
United States Sentencing Guidelines.
Application note 13 to U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1 states:
(A) In General. - Subsection (b)(5) applies . . . if
the defendant (i) transported, transferred, or otherwise disposed
of two or more firearms to another individual, or
received two or more firearms with the intent to
transport, transfer, or otherwise dispose of
firearms to another individual; and
(ii) knew or had reason to believe that such conduct
would result in the transport, transfer, or
disposal of a firearm to an individual (I) whose possession or receipt of the firearm
would be unlawful; or

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(II) who intended to use or dispose of the firearm
unlawfully.
(B) Definitions. - For purposes of this subsection:
"Individual whose possession or receipt of the
firearm would be unlawful" means an individual who
(i) has a prior conviction for a crime of violence,
a controlled substance offense, or a misdemeanor
crime of domestic violence; or (ii) at the time of
the offense was under a criminal justice sentence,
including probation, parole, supervised release,
imprisonment, work release, or escape status.
The
matters here.

parties

agree

that

the

trafficking

enhancement

They agree that, without the enhancement, Taylor's

total offense level would be 19.

That total offense level results

from a base offense level of 20, under U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(a)(4)(B),
with a two point enhancement because the offense involved three or
more firearms, under § 2K2.1(b)(1)(A), and a three point reduction
for acceptance of responsibility, under § 3E1.1.

The parties also

agree that the trafficking enhancement adds four points to the
total offense level, U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(5), so that, with that
enhancement, Taylor's total offense level would be 23.

And,

because the parties further agree that Taylor's criminal history
category is III, his sentencing range under the guidelines with
the enhancement is for a term of imprisonment of 57-71 months,
rather than for the range of 37-46 months that it would be without
the trafficking enhancement.
A sentencing hearing was held on June 24, 2015.

At that

sentencing hearing, the District Court determined that on three

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Entry ID: 6060360

separate occasions -- September 17, 2013; October 1, 2013; and
October 16, 2013 -- Taylor supplied firearms to a cooperating
witness, CW-1.

That finding, the District Court concluded, was

sufficient to satisfy subpart (i) of the trafficking enhancement's
application note.

The District Court then determined that the

requirement of subpart (ii) was met because the District Court
found that, during the September 17 transaction, CW-1 said to
Taylor that CW-1 would remove the serial number from the firearm
involved in that transaction.

In addition, the District Court

found that the requirement of subpart (ii) had been met because
the District Court found that, during the October 16 transaction,
the gun sold was a sawed-off shotgun, which is generally unlawful
to possess except in limited circumstances, and the evidence in
the record did not support the contention that Taylor might have
believed that those limited circumstances applied to CW-1.
Having found that the trafficking enhancement applied,
the District Court sentenced Taylor to a term of imprisonment of
71 months. Taylor now brings this timely appeal to the application
of the trafficking enhancement.
II.
The

government

bears

the

burden

of

showing,

by

a

preponderance of the evidence, that Taylor is subject to the
trafficking enhancement.
32 (1st Cir. 2009).

United States v. Marceau, 554 F.3d 24,

Taylor contends that the District Court erred

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in imposing the trafficking enhancement because it erroneously
found that, on the basis of the transactions on September 17 and
October 16, the requirement in subpart (ii) of application note 13
had been met.

But, because Taylor did not make this challenge

below, our review is only for plain error.
Figuereo, 404 F.3d 537, 540 (1st Cir. 2005).1

United States v.
And, under the plain

error standard, we will reverse "only if the defendant shows '(1)
that an error occurred (2) which was clear or obvious and which
not only (3) affected the defendant's substantial rights, but also
(4)

seriously

impaired

the

fairness,

reputation of judicial proceedings.'"

integrity,

or

public

Id. (quoting United States

v. Duarte, 246 F.3d 56, 60 (1st Cir. 2001)).

We conclude that the

District Court did not commit a clear or obvious error in finding
that the government met its burden.
As to the September 17 transaction, the District Court
found that "the cooperating witness [said] that he [was] going to
take the serial number off" and that therefore "Mr. Taylor as a
supplier would know [that the transfer] involved some unlawful
possession or the use or disposal of the firearm unlawfully."
Taylor contends that the District Court erred in finding that the
government met its burden, given that the audio recording of the

1

Although Taylor did raise other objections to the
application of the sentencing enhancement, an objection on one
ground does not preserve objections on a different ground. Id. at
540 n.3.

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September 17 transaction shows only that CW-1 announced that he
would

remove

the

serial

number,

not

that

Taylor

heard

or

acknowledged CW-1's comment.
But, according to the uncontested characterization of
the conversation in the presentence report, CW-1 announced to
Taylor that he would remove the serial number, and then Taylor,
without acknowledging the comment, showed CW-1 how to operate the
firearm.

In the course of showing CW-1 how to work the firearm,

Taylor answered when CW-1 asked about the location of the weapon's
safety.

In other words, Taylor and CW-1 were in close enough

proximity that they could engage in conversation and Taylor could
hear

CW-1's

question.

Given

that

characterization

of

what

transpired during the transaction, the District Court supportably
found that Taylor heard the statement that CW-1 made during a
conversation between the two of them about the firearm.

And, if

Taylor heard the statement, then the District Court committed no
clear or obvious error -- or, for that matter, any error at all - in concluding that Taylor knew or should have known that the
removal of a serial number is indicative of "anticipation that the
gun will be used in criminal activity," and thus that Taylor knew
or should have known that CW-1 intended to use or dispose of the
firearm unlawfully. Marceau, 554 F.3d at 32 (quoting United States
v. Ortiz, 64 F.3d 18, 22 (1st Cir. 1995)); see also United States
v. Jenkins, 528 F. App'x 483, 486 (6th Cir. 2013) (finding that a

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firearm's lack of serial number supported the inference that the
defendant knew or had reason to believe that the firearm would be
used or disposed of unlawfully).
As for the District Court's finding that the October 16
transaction supplies a basis for finding that the requirement in
subpart (ii) of application note 13 had been met, here, too, we
see no clear or obvious error.

The District Court noted that,

while it is "conceivable[] for someone to possess a sawed-off
shotgun legally . . . it would require, broadly stated, licensing
that is not to be found in this record," and concluded that Taylor
knew or had reason to believe that CW-1 would use or dispose of
the

firearm

unlawfully.

And

much

evidence

supports

that

conclusion.
The October sale took place in a private home, not a gun
store.

It also was made in cash.

Moreover, Taylor was selling

CW-1 a sawed-off shotgun, which is illegal to possess in all but
the most unusual circumstances, and there were no facts to indicate
that such circumstances were present here.

In addition, Taylor

was on notice that CW-1 planned to resell the weapons that he was
purchasing from Taylor, and there was no indication that CW-1 would
be the unusual firearms dealer who could legally own, much less
legally resell, a sawed-off shotgun. Finally, Taylor was on notice
that

CW-1

had

expressed

during

the

September

transaction

intention to remove the serial number from a firearm.

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an

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Combining all the facts together, we find that the
District Court did not plainly err in concluding that Taylor "knew
or had reason to believe" that CW-1 would "use or dispose of" the
sawed-off shotgun illegally.

See Jenkins, 528 F. App'x at 486.

We therefore find that the District Court did not plainly err in
finding that the requirement of subpart (ii) of application note
13 had been met and that the trafficking enhancement applied.
III.
We affirm the sentence set by the District Court.

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