United States v. Gilberto Ramos, 852 F.3d 747

Background

Ramos was convicted of methamphetamine conspiracy and distribution offenses and of being a felon in possession of a firearm after a jury trial; one § 924(c) charge was acquitted. He was sentenced to concurrent terms (drug counts 148 months; firearms 120 months). Ramos appealed.
Investigation arose from an unrelated wiretap of Abraham Duran; Duran identified Ramos as his interlocutor and testified about methamphetamine transactions and a text offering a .40 firearm. A cooperating confidential informant (Gonzales) made three controlled purchases from the Brookhaven apartment and identified Ramos. Water records and other evidence tied Ramos to that apartment. Officers executed a search and found ~2 ounces of methamphetamine and a .45 pistol under a mattress in a bedroom with mixed men’s and women’s clothing. Ramos was on parole when arrested.
Ramos signed an Arkansas Parole Board Waiver of Revocation Hearing (Waiver Form) admitting violations, and the government admitted that form together with the Notice of Parole Violation (Exhibit 37) at trial over a Rule 403 objection.
On appeal Ramos challenged sufficiency of the evidence (drug and gun counts), admission of Exhibit 37 under Rule 403, and substantive reasonableness of sentence. The district court had sua sponte denied a motion for judgment of acquittal at close of evidence; the court of appeals reviewed sufficiency de novo.
The panel held the drug convictions were supported by sufficient evidence, reversed the felon-in-possession conviction for insufficient evidence (joint-occupancy/constructive-possession issue), found admission of Exhibit 37 to be erroneous but harmless as to drug convictions, and remanded for resentencing on the drug counts because the district court applied a two-level weapons enhancement tied to the reversed firearms conviction.

Issues

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument (Ramos)	Defendant's Argument (Government)	Held
Sufficiency of evidence for drug convictions	Duran’s testimony insufficient, Gonzales unreliable, no proof Ramos lived at apartment	Multiple sources corroborated: wiretap, Duran, Gonzales ID, water records, drugs found in apartment	Affirmed — evidence sufficient for drug convictions
Sufficiency of evidence for felon-in-possession (§ 922(g))	Gun found in jointly-occupied bedroom near feminine items; no direct link to Ramos; different caliber than gun offered to Duran	Constructive possession from dominion over premises and other evidence (offer to sell gun; Waiver admission)	Reversed — insufficient evidence to prove Ramos knowingly possessed that specific gun
Admission of Waiver/Notice (Exhibit 37) under Fed. R. Evid. 403	Waiver made without counsel, not under oath, signed in parole context to avoid harsher revocation — unduly prejudicial and misleading	Admissions are probative and admissible; probative value outweighs prejudice	Admission was an abuse of discretion (exhibit prejudicial/confusing), but error was harmless as to drug convictions
Sentencing reasonableness / weapons enhancement	Sentence greater than necessary; weapons enhancement improper now that firearms conviction reversed	District court properly applied §2D1.1(b)(1) enhancement based on possession of a dangerous weapon	Remanded for resentencing on drug convictions because reversal of firearms conviction undermines the enhancement

Key Cases Cited

United States v. Ways, 832 F.3d 887 (8th Cir. 2016) (standard for de novo sufficiency review and constructive-possession principles)
United States v. Boykin, 986 F.2d 270 (8th Cir. 1993) (constructive-possession may support § 922(g) conviction)
United States v. Wright, 739 F.3d 1160 (8th Cir. 2014) (when residence is jointly occupied, dominion alone is insufficient to prove constructive possession)
Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471 (1972) (parole revocation proceedings afford limited due process; not equivalent to criminal trial protections)
Lockhart v. Nelson, 488 U.S. 33 (1988) (court may consider improperly admitted evidence when assessing sufficiency of evidence)