UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Dung Manh NGUYEN, Defendant-Appellant

Appellant Dung Manh Nguyen (“Nguyen”) appeals his convictions after a consolidated jury trial on two indictments.

In CR 94-695-DT, Nguyen and two co-defendants were charged with conspiracy to transfer an unregistered shotgun, from which the serial number had been removed, and aiding and abetting the transfer of the shotgun, violations of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 26 U.S.C. § 5861 (d), (e) and (h). One co-defendant pleaded guilty and one was never arrested.

In CR 94-741-DT, Nguyen alone was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm on October 21,1993, a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g).

On October 21, 1993, undercover agent Trinh and Nguyen met in a grocery store parking lot. The meeting was recorded on audio tape, and a portion of the meeting was recorded on video tape. During this meeting, Nguyen handed Agent Trinh the Bryco nine millimeter handgun, and Trinh examined it. Trinh read the serial number of the Bryco handgun, 601258, which was recorded on the audio tape. Agent Trinh did not purchase the Bryco handgun from Nguyen. The Bryco handgun was later recovered in San Francisco during the course of an unrelated investigation. The handgun was produced by the government…