US v. Cox, No. 09-3956

Firearm Possession Conviction Affirmed

In US v. Cox, No. 09-3956, the court affirmed defendant's conviction for knowingly possessing a firearm after three prior violent felony convictions, where the jury asked a question of law, and the district court's response properly directed the jury away from this line of reasoning back to the proper focus of whether the charged offense had been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.

As the court wrote:  "Following a two-day trial, a jury convicted Michael Deshun Cox of knowingly possessing a firearm after three prior violent felony convictions. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g), 924(a)(2) & (e)(1). The district court sentenced Cox to 262 months in prison. He appeals, arguing that the evidence was insufficient to prove he knowingly possessed the firearm, and that the district court abused its discretion in responding to a question from the jury during its deliberations. We affirm."

Related Resources

• Read the Eighth Circuit's Decision in US v. Cox, No. 09-3956