United States v. Wayde Lynn Kurt

Wayde Lynn Kurt brings this appeal from his conviction on consolidated charges of unlawful possession of an unregistered machine gun, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 5861 (d), and failure to appear, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 3146 (a), for which he was sentenced to consecutive imprisonment terms of sixteen and twenty-one months respectively. Kurt contends that the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained pursuant to a warrant defectively based on unsworn testimony, and, with respect to the unlawful possession charge, by convicting him in the absence of any evidence that the gun he owned could legally have been registered. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and AFFIRM the judgment of the district court.

I. Facts

In late December 1987, police officers in Snohomish County, Washington, were investigating the homicide of Zachary Smith. On the basis of an informant’s tip, the officers obtained a valid warrant from a Snohomish County superior court judge to search 413 West Sixth Street in Cle Elum, Washington, where they believed Kurt lived with his parents.

The officers executed the warrant on January 5, 1988. Kurt’s mother told the officers that…