Appellant, Jamar B. Hammond, appeals his conviction for one count of unlawfully possessing a firearm after being convicted of a felony (“UPF”), two counts of possessing an unregistered firearm (“UF”), and two counts of unlawfully possessing ammunition (“UA”). On appeal, appellant argues that his two UF convictions should be merged, as well as his two convictions for UA, and that his conviction for UPF should merge with his convictions for UF. Appellant also contends that there was insufficient evidence to establish his constructive possession of the firearms or the ammunition. Finally, appellant argues that the trial judge erred in admitting at trial the ammunition recovered from the apartment appellant shared with his wife because the government failed to call the officers who actually collected and labeled the ammunition. For the following reasons, we affirm, but remand this case with an instruction to vacate one of appellant’s two UA convictions.
I. FACTS
On March 26, 2011, the police stopped a vehicle driven by appellant’s mother. Appellant was seated in the front passenger seat and his wife and child were in the back seats. Appellant became very agitated and irate as the police officers approached the vehicle and, consequently, was detained in handcuffs. The officers asked appellant’s mother for permission to search the trunk and she provided the police with a key to the trunk, leading appellant to become even more irate. Inside the trunk, the officers found a .22 caliber rifle and a .270 caliber rifle. Upon seeing the rifles, appellant’s mother became upset and yelled at appellant, “asking him why he put the guns in there.” Appellant responded, “I’m not trying to hurt no one. I’m trying to protect my wife. Those joints are not loaded.”
Police later searched the apartment appellant shared with his wife and found in the bedroom dresser five rounds of .22 caliber ammunition and one round of .270 caliber ammunition in close proximity to an identification bracelet bearing appellant’s name and photograph and a PEPCO bill bearing appellant’s name and the ad
On September 12, 2011, a jury found appellant guilty of all five firearm and ammunition charges.
II. ANALYSIS
A. Appellant’s Merger Arguments
i. Merger of Two Possession of an Unregistered Firearm Convictions
Appellant argues that the UF statute is ambiguous as to whether the legislature intended the unit of prosecution to be the possession of each individual unregistered firearm or any possession, multiple or not, of an unregistered firearm. Appellant points to the language in the statute that prohibits possessing or controlling “any firearm,” arguing that the lack of specificity makes it unlikely, or at least unclear, that the legislature intended possession of each individual firearm to constitute a separate violation. D.C.Code § 7-2502.01 (2001) (emphasis added). For that reason, appellant contends that under the rule of lenity, this ambiguity should be resolved in favor of reducing appellant’s two convictions for possession of an unregistered firearm to one conviction. The unit of prosecution for possession of an unregistered firearm is an issue of first impression for this court.
An appellant’s claim that he has been unlawfully convicted for multiple violations of a single statute is an issue of “statutory application” and “not one of Constitutional interpretation.” Speaks v. United States,
The trial court did not err in convicting appellant of two counts of UF because the unit of prosecution under the statute is each individual unregistered firearm. The UF provision prohibits possession of “any firearm, unless the person ... holds a valid registration certificate for the firearm.” D.C.Code § 7-2502.01 (2001) (emphasis added).
While this court in Headspeth v. District of Columbia,
Since the UF statute is not ambiguous, the rule of lenity does not apply and we affirm appellant’s conviction for two counts of possession of an unregistered firearm. See Murray v. United States,
ii. Merger of Possession of an Unregistered Firearm and Felon in Possession Convictions
In addition, appellant argues that his UF convictions should merge with his
We review claims of merger of convictions de novo “to determine whether there has been a violation of the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.” Sanchez-Rengifo v. United States,
We have previously held that a UPF conviction does not merge with a UF conviction because “each [crime] requires proof of a fact which the other does not.” Washington v. United States,
B. Sufficiency of Evidence of Possession of Firearms and Ammunition
Appellant argues that the evidence that he constructively possessed the firearms and the ammunition was insufficient beyond a reasonable doubt. Appellant contends that he was not and could not have been in possession of the rifles in the trunk given that the rifles were not found on his property, but in the trunk of his mother’s car, which she was driving and to which he did not have a key. He also notes that none of his fingerprints were found on the rifles. In addition, appellant argues that there was insufficient evidence that he was in possession of the ammunition because the government did not provide a lease proving that appellant was a tenant of the apartment and appellant was not present during the search of the apartment. Further, appellant notes that there was no evidence as to whether the contents of the dresser in which the ammunition was found belonged primarily to a male or a female.
On a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, “[w]e view the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution to determine whether a reasonable factfinder could find guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” James v. United States,
We are satisfied that there was sufficient evidence that appellant had constructive possession of the firearms. Although it was appellant’s mother who gave the police a key to the trunk, appellant effectively admitted that he had put the two firearms in the trunk by his response to his mother’s angry inquiry as to why he
We are also satisfied that there was sufficient evidence that appellant had constructive possession of the ammunition. Even if there was no direct evidence that appellant lived in the apartment where the ammunition was recovered, there is strong circumstantial evidence. Appellant’s wife, who was also in the car on the night they were pulled over, consented to the search of the apartment and the ammunition was found in the same dresser as an identification bracelet bearing appellant’s name and photograph and a PEPCO bill bearing appellant’s name and the address of the apartment. This evidence strongly suggests appellant lived in the apartment and thus had the ability to exercise dominion and control over the ammunition. See Moore v. United States,
C. Admissibility of Ammunition Evidence
Finally, appellant argues that the trial court violated his Confrontation Clause rights and chain of custody requirements in admitting into evidence ammunition recovered from his apartment without producing for cross-examination any officer who was actually involved in collecting and labeling the evidence. Instead, the government called Officer Little, one of the officers who searched the apartment and saw the ammunition in the dresser drawer, but did not physically collect the evidence or bring it to the police station.
The trial court did not err in admitting the ammunition into evidence without the testimony of the officer who actually recovered the ammunition because the failure to establish a chain of custody for the evidence goes to its weight and not its admissibility. In re D.S.,
III.
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the trial court’s judgment as to appellant’s UPF and UF convictions, but, based on the government’s concession that appellant’s two UA convictions should merge, remand this case for the trial court to vacate one of appellant’s two UA convictions, and for resentencing.
So ordered.
Notes
. "Except as otherwise provided in this unit, no person or organization in the District of Columbia ("District”) shall receive, possess, control, transfer, offer for sale, sell, give, or deliver any destructive device, and no person or organization in the District shall possess or control any firearm, unless the person or organization holds a valid registration certificate for the firearm.” D.C.Code § 7-2502.01 (2001).
. The legislative history of the current UF statute further supports reading possession of each individual unregistered firearm as the intended unit of prosecution. The legislative history reveals the D.C. Council’s intent to deter avoidance of the new registration requirements by means of increased penalties (among which, the UF crime) for violation of these new requirements. D.C. Council, Report on Bill 1-164 at 2-3, Firearms Control Act of 1975 (Apr. 21, 1976). As the new registration requirements prominently included the requirements for detailed information about each individual firearm, the Council's intent to use the increased penalties to deter avoidance of these requirements can only be given effect by treating each failure to obtain a registration certificate as an individual, separate offense.
. Appellant also argues that his two convictions for unlawful possession of ammunition ("UA”) should merge. The government concedes this argument and we see no reason to question that concession in this case.