Filed: Feb. 20, 2008
Latest Update: Feb. 21, 2020
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED -U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 07-12504 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FEBRUARY 20, 2008 Non-Argument Calendar - THOMAS K. KAHN CLERK D.C. Docket No. 06-00047-CR-001-HL-5 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus MARTIN KENTRAE KENDALL, a.k.a. Sawed-Off, Defendant-Appellant. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia - (February 20, 2008) Before EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, TJOFLAT an
Summary: [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FILED -U.S. COURT OF APPEALS No. 07-12504 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT FEBRUARY 20, 2008 Non-Argument Calendar - THOMAS K. KAHN CLERK D.C. Docket No. 06-00047-CR-001-HL-5 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, versus MARTIN KENTRAE KENDALL, a.k.a. Sawed-Off, Defendant-Appellant. - Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia - (February 20, 2008) Before EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, TJOFLAT and..
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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
FILED
-------------------------------------------U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
No. 07-12504 ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
FEBRUARY 20, 2008
Non-Argument Calendar
-------------------------------------------- THOMAS K. KAHN
CLERK
D.C. Docket No. 06-00047-CR-001-HL-5
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
MARTIN KENTRAE KENDALL,
a.k.a. Sawed-Off,
Defendant-Appellant.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Georgia
----------------------------------------------------------------
(February 20, 2008)
Before EDMONDSON, Chief Judge, TJOFLAT and BLACK, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Defendant-Appellant Martin Kentrae Kendall appeals his conviction for
being a felon in possession of a firearm, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). No
reversible error has been shown; we affirm.
Defendant was convicted of the firearm offense after a jury trial.1 On
appeal, Defendant raises a single issue: whether the district court committed
reversible error when it denied his motion for a directed verdict of acquittal.
According to Appellant, the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to support
his conviction.
To support conviction, the felon-in-possession offense requires the
government to show beyond a reasonable doubt that (1) the defendant was a
convicted felon, (2) the defendant knowingly possessed a firearm, and (3) the
firearm was in or affected interstate commerce. United States v. Deleveaux,
205
F.3d 1292, 1296-97 (11th Cir. 2000). Defendant stipulated that he was a convicted
felon and acknowledges that the evidence at trial was undisputed that the weapon
traveled in interstate commerce; Defendant disputes only the sufficiency of the
evidence to show knowing possession of the firearm.
1
The jury acquitted Defendant of one count of possession with intent to distribute “crack”
cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. 841(a)(1) and (b)(1)(C), and for possession of a firearm in
furtherance of a drug trafficking offense, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(c)(1).
2
The gravamen of Defendant’s asserted insufficiency is claimed
inconsistencies between the testimony of two officers, each of whom testified that
he saw Defendant drop the firearm while being chased by the officers. According
to Defendant, each officer claimed to have been in the lead in the chase and to
have had an unobstructed view. Because Defendant asserts that it is physically
impossible for each of these officers to have been in the lead at the same time,
their testimony is conflicting, irreconcilable, incredible and incapable of
supporting a finding of possession beyond a reasonable doubt.
Denial of a defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal is reviewed de
novo drawing all reasonable inferences in the government’s favor. United States
v. Perez-Tosta,
36 F.3d 1552, 1556 (11th Cir. 1994). “For testimony to be
considered incredible as a matter of law, it must be unbelievable on its face, i.e.,
testimony as to facts that the witness could not have possible observed or events
that could not have occurred under the laws of nature.” United States v.
Thompson,
422 F.3d 1285, 1291 (2005) (internal quotation and citation omitted)
(refusing to revisit a jury’s credibility determination when adverse witnesses
testified inconsistently).
Some inconsistency in the officers’s testimony exists about details of the
chase. Each officer was relating his observations while in hot pursuit of
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Defendant. Although each officer could not have been in the lead vís a vís the
other at the very same time, the jury was free to draw reasonable inferences from
their testimonies: each officer -- focused on overtaking Defendant -- could have
been inaccurate about his relative position at any point in the chase without being
inaccurate about the clarity of his view of Defendant and the dropped firearm.
Such reasonable inferences belie Defendant’s claim that the testimony was
incredible as a matter of law due to physical impossibility. No insufficiency of the
evidence to support conviction has been shown.
AFFIRMED.
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