United States v. Nichols

During an altercation at his home, Nichols threatened someone with a weapon. Officers took him into custody. Nichols consented to a search of his property, during which officers found a handgun and ammunition. Nichols, serving probation for federal felony mail fraud, claimed to have forgotten that he had the gun. Nichols, charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a felon, 18 U.S.C. 922(g), unsuccessfully moved to suppress the evidence, then pleaded guilty to one count. In calculating his guidelines range, the court denied Nichols credit for acceptance of responsibility and imposed an enhancement for obstruction of justice. It concluded that he was not entitled to a reduction in his offense level on the ground that all the firearms and ammunition were used exclusively for sporting purposes. The Seventh Circuit affirmed his 27-month sentence, at the low end of the guidelines range. The district court was faced with opposing versions of Nichols’s confession from Nichols and his probation officer; it made a credibility determination. The court committed no reversible error in applying the obstruction enhancement and denying credit for acceptance of responsibility. Nichols’s unsupported statements failed to demonstrate that the contraband was used exclusively for lawful sporting purposes to justify a reduction under U.S.S.G. 2K2.1(b)(2). View "United States v. Nichols" on Justia Law