Reginald W. Hooks, Appellant,
v.
United States, Appellee.
Submitted May 8, 2018
Appeal
from the Superior Court of the District of Columbia
(CF2-20784-16) (Hon. Kimberley S. Knowles, Trial Judge)
Donald
L. Dworsky was on the brief for appellant.
Jessie
K. Liu, United States Attorney, and Elizabeth Trosman,
Nicholas P. Coleman, Chrisellen R. Kolb, Jason B. Feldman,
and Edward G. Burley, Assistant United States Attorneys, were
on the brief for appellee.
Before
Fisher, Beckwith, and McLeese, Associate Judges.
Fisher, Associate Judge
Appellant
Reginald Hooks challenges his convictions for unlawful
possession of a firearm ("UPF"), carrying a pistol
without a license ("CPWL"), possession of an
unregistered firearm ("UF"), and unlawful
possession of ammunition ("UA"), claiming the
evidence was insufficient. Relying on the recent decision of
the District of Columbia Circuit in Wrenn v. District of
Columbia, 864 F.3d 650 (2017), appellant further
challenges his CPWL conviction on the ground that the statute
under which he was prosecuted conflicts with the Second
Amendment. We affirm.
I.
Background
While
on patrol during the evening of December 20, 2016,
Metropolitan Police Department ("MPD") Officers
Vaillancourt, Ashley, and Wright approached a group of four
to six people in an alley adjoining the 1500 block of
Kenilworth Avenue in Northeast D.C. When the officers began
to approach, Vaillancourt noticed appellant walk away from
them and toward a metal dumpster. Vaillancourt saw appellant
"standing by the dumpster" when he heard "a
loud clang of a metal object hitting another metal object on
the side of the dumpster . . . and Mr. Hooks was pulling his
arm away from the opening of the dumpster, the slide door
there, and then immediately walked away back towards the
direction he just came from." At no point that night did
the officers see anyone other than appellant near the
dumpster. Officer Wright then communicated to the other
officers by code word that he saw a gun in the dumpster.
Officer Vaillancourt looked "in the dumpster and . . .
[saw] the gun[, ] without having to move or manipulate
anything[, ] . . . sitting right on top of the trash."
After
passing the dumpster, appellant briskly walked away from the
officers. When they pursued, appellant began running. After
the officers caught up to and detained appellant, Officer
Wright recovered from the dumpster a .357 magnum revolver
loaded with six rounds of ammunition. After searching the
dumpster, the officers found no other large or heavy metallic
object.
At
trial, appellant stipulated that he had previously been
convicted of a felony, did not have a valid license to carry
a pistol at the time of his arrest, and did not have a valid
registration certificate as required by law to possess a
firearm.
II.
Discussion
A.
There Was Sufficient Evidence to Support Appellant's
Convictions
Mr.
Hooks argues that the evidence was insufficient to show that
he actually possessed the revolver and the ...