Coughlin

United States v. Coughlin

Good Law
202 F. App'x 194
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth CircuitSeptember 18, 2006No. 05-30451California426 words

Opinion

Lead Opinion

*195 MEMORANDUM ***

Daniel Coughlin appeals his conviction following a conditional guilty plea to being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1) and § 924(e). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.

Coughlin first challenges the lawfulness of police officers’ warrantless entry of the bus in which he lived. In addition, he challenges the warrantless search of a drawer within that bus which yielded the firearm at issue. However, Coughlin does not challenge the separate search of his person which yielded .22 caliber ammunition. 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(1) clearly criminalizes being a felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition. Accordingly, Coughlin was charged with being a felon in possession of not only a firearm, but also ammunition. Since the lawfully-obtained ammunition is sufficient to sustain Coughlin’s conviction, Coughlin’s challenges to the searches yielding the gun are moot.

Even if those challenges are not moot, they fail on the merits. The police officers’ initial entry of the bus was justified under the emergency doctrine. See United States v. Martinez, 406 F.3d 1160, 1164 (9th Cir.2005). Here, police…

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