United States v. Boyce

742 F.3d 792 (7th Cir. 2014)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Sarah Portis called 911 at around 7:45 p.m. asking that police come to her residence because her child's father had just hit her and was 'going crazy for no reason.' The 911 operator asked, 'Any weapons involved?' to which Portis responded, 'Yes.' The operator asked what kind, and Portis said, 'A gun.' The operator said, 'He has a gun?', then 'Hello?', and Portis responded, 'I, I think so. 'Cause he just, he just.' After the operator said, 'Come on,' Portis responded, 'Yes!' twice. The operator again inquired, 'Did you see one?' and Portis replied, 'Yes!' The operator then cautioned Portis that if she wasn't telling the truth, she could be taken to jail. Portis responded, 'I'm positive.' After giving a description of what D was wearing, the operator asked where he was at the moment. Portis responded that she 'just ran upstairs to [her] neighbor's house' and didn't know whether D had left her house yet. Officers responded to the 911 call and after they interviewed Portis they saw that D had returned to the outside of Portis's residence and was calling out her name. Officer Solomon asked D to come over, but D ran away. Officer Cummings ran after him. Cummings saw D reach toward the midsection of his body, retrieve a nickel-plated handgun, and toss it over a garage into a yard. D was soon detained and officers found three .357 bullets in D's right front pants pocket. A silver .357 Magnum handgun was found in the area where Cummings saw D throw a gun. D was charged with one count of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition. D immediately began a campaign from jail to sweet-talk Portis to change her story. Portis did not testify at trial, but the government played a recording of her 911 call for the jury. P pointed to Cummings's testimony that he saw Portis throw a gun, other officers' testimony recounting the recovery of the gun in the area and ammunition matching the gun in D's pocket, and Portis's statement on the 911 call that D had a gun. D was found guilty and appealed.