United States v. James Elwood Miller

Appellant was tried before a jury and convicted of numerous counts arising from his purchase and sale of firearms. Specifically, he was convicted of one count of selling firearms without a license, 18 U.S.C. § 922 (a)(1), three counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. App. § 1202(a)(1), ten counts charging him as a felon receiver of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. § 922 (h)(1), and five counts of making false statements on firearm forms, 18 U.S.C. § 922 (a)(6).

Appellant appeals on numerous grounds, all of which, save one, we shall not discuss. The one we do consider is that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the issue of the voluntariness of appellant’s statements made to government agents subsequent to his arrest as is required by 18 U.S.C. § 3501 . The United States admits that the failure was error. It insists, however, that it was harmless.

The issue is a close one, but, on balance, we believe the error was not harmless. There was considerable dispute about whether the statements were voluntary and, while we are not prepared to conclude as a matter of law that they were not, we think the dispute underscores the necessity of the statutorily…