United States v. Reynolds, No. 09-2504 (1st Cir. 2011)
Annotate this Case
Defendant, convicted of knowingly possessing firearms after having been committed to a mental institution (18 U.S.C. 922(g)) and knowingly possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number (18 U.S.C. 922(k)), was sentenced to two years imprisonment and three years of supervised release. The First Circuit affirmed. The district court did not err in finding the defendant competent; it relied on an unobjected-to forensic evaluation by treating professionals and defendant's own assertions and those of her attorney. Defendant's strange and ill-advised conduct and behavior did not mandate a finding of incompetence. The court properly denied a motion to suppress; it reasonably concluded that defendant's gesture to the headboard in which the guns were located, while answering "yes" to whether she had weapons demonstrated that she understood the officer intended not only to learn of the existence of the weapons, but also to find them. Her consent to the search and her waiver of a jury trial were voluntary.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.