Gun Thief Convicted of Felon-in-Possession, Properly Enhanced for Possessing Gun with Burglary

United States v. Morris, ___ F.3d ___, 2009 WL 989011 (10th Cir. 2009)
D was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm for the gun he took during a burglary. The district court properly applied the § 2K2.1(b)(6) enhancement for possession of the gun in connection with another felony (the burglary), and there was no plain error in the court’s use of Application Note 14 (B). D argued that the Note improperly expanded the enhancement phrase “in connection with” to a situation like D’s, where the gun was the object of the burglary and possessed only as a consequence of the burglary. The COA noted that the Note was added in 2006 to address a conflict among the circuits–some had decided that the “in connection with another felony” required a time separation between the gun possession and the commission of the offense, and other circuits did not require such a separation. The Note, which adopted the more Draconian view, is binding.