United States v. Gregory Lewis Harden, Aka: Clarence Decker

The appellant, Gregory Lewis Harden, raises three issues in his appeal: ineffective assistance of counsel, insufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction, and that in applying the penalty enhancement provisions of 18 U.S.C.App. § 1202(a) (1982 & Supp. II 1984), the district court should have viewed his three prior robbery convictions as a single conviction. Finding no merit to Harden’s contentions, we affirm.

I. FACTS

On the evening of January 8, 1986, Harden was seated in the driver’s side of a white car parked in Los Angeles. Two police officers, who happened to be passing by, saw Harden with two other men, who were standing outside the car. One of the officers noticed that the man standing outside the passenger side had a gun. The police officers pulled up behind the white car and took the three men into custody. The police found a gun under the car and a loaded .22 caliber revolver on the floorboard of the passenger side. A bullet matching the revolver was found on the driver’s side.

Harden told the police officers that the gun was his and that he carried it whenever he was in the “jungle.” The police officers then took the three men to police headquarters. While…