United States v. Derek Bellamy

MEMORANDUM

Derek Tyson Bellamy was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1), and sentenced to 63 months imprisonment. Bellamy appeals the conviction, claiming insufficient evidence, and the sentence, claiming it is substantively unreasonable. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and affirm.

1. To obtain a conviction under 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1), the government must prove “(1) that the defendant was a convicted felon; (2) that the defendant was in knowing possession of a firearm ...; and (3) that the firearm ... was in or affecting interstate commerce.” United States v. Nevils, 598 F.3d 1158, 1163 (9th Cir.2010) (en banc) (quoting United States v. Beasley, 346 F.3d 930, 933-34 (9th Cir.2003)). Possession is established when the defendant has “knowledge of the firearms and the power and intent to exercise control over them.” United States v. Nungaray, 697 F.3d 1114, 1117 (9th Cir.2012) (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

2. Bellamy stipulated that he was a convicted felon and that the firearm at issue traveled in interstate commerce; only possession is at issue. Bellamy’s admissions that he “saw the firearm when he [got]…