# United States v. Burchard

> Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit · September 2, 2009 · 580 F.3d 341

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9560828

## Case

- **Full name:** UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Randall H. BURCHARD, Defendant-Appellant
- **Court:** Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
- **Decided:** September 2, 2009
- **Citations:** 580 F.3d 341; 2009 U.S. App. LEXIS 19796; 2009 WL 2768494
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Gibbons
- **Judges:** Gibbons, White, Tarnow
- **Cited by:** 31 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9560828

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- holding that "[t]he law does not require that the Defendant used the controlled substance at the precise time he possessed the firearm"
- holding that an objection was preserved when the defendant objected to the court’s failure to read proposed jury instruction
- acknowledging that syringes and scales are common drug paraphernalia
- affirming the use of an instruction nearly identical to that of the district court’s before crafting a substantively similar instruction to be giv en in future cases
- affirming a conviction under § 922(g)(3) where evidence showed the defendant had used cocaine over a one-year period

## Opinion text

JULIA SMITH GIBBONS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I concur in all of the opinion except Part III.G. While I make no criticism of the instruction offered in that section, I would prefer not to reach the question of what instruction should be given in future cases under § 922(g)(3). In my experience, cases under § 922(g)(3) are infrequently prosecuted, and we have little basis for knowing typical fact patterns in such cases. Selecting an instruction that might be generally appropriate is thus difficult. The better course seems to be to refrain from offering a suggested instruction at this time and do so in the future only if subsequent prosecutions demonstrate that it is needed.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9560828. Public record. Not legal advice.