## Facts

- Police investigating a jewelry-store robbery obtained a warrant and searched a home owned by Dorman’s mother that was shared and frequented by multiple people.
- Dorman usually slept in a basement bedroom and had slept there the night before the search, but he was not present when officers entered and he was not the exclusive occupant.
- In the upstairs living room (a generally accessible area), officers found a handgun and a one-ounce vial of PCP, both concealed from plain view.
- In the laundry room (also accessible to others), officers found a bottle containing more than 15 ounces of PCP next to a washing machine in a location that might not be readily noticed.
- In the basement bedroom associated with Dorman, officers saw a firearm handle protruding from the bed and found a pistol wedged under the mattress.
- On the basement steps (a common area), officers found, under a blanket, a trash bag containing empty vials consistent with PCP packaging.
- The government introduced additional testimony to link Dorman to the PCP found outside his bedroom, but the evidence was characterized as equivocal or contradicted.

## Issues

1. Whether sufficient evidence supported Dorman’s convictions for possession with intent to distribute PCP and for using/carrying/possessing a firearm during a drug-trafficking offense, where the PCP was concealed in common areas of a shared residence and the government relied on constructive possession.
2. Whether evidentiary rulings or constitutional errors required reversal of Dorman’s felon-in-possession conviction based on the pistol found under his mattress.

## Decision

- The court reversed the convictions for possession with intent to distribute PCP (21 U.S.C. § 841) and for possessing a firearm during a drug-trafficking offense (18 U.S.C. § 924(c)(1)) for insufficient evidence of constructive possession of the PCP.
- The court affirmed the felon-in-possession conviction (18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1)), concluding the record supported an inference that Dorman knew of and controlled the pistol found under his mattress and that his appellate challenges did not warrant reversal.
- The case was remanded for resentencing on the remaining conviction.

## Legal Principles

- Constructive possession requires evidence supporting a plausible inference that the defendant had both knowledge of, and the ability to exercise dominion and control over, the contraband.
- In a jointly occupied residence, mere residence, proximity, or presence is insufficient to prove constructive possession of contraband located in generally accessible areas, especially when concealed from plain view; the government must show an additional nexus tying the defendant to the contraband.
- Evidence establishing possession of a firearm in a space clearly associated with the defendant (such as a bedroom where the defendant usually sleeps, with the weapon partially visible and under the defendant’s mattress) can be sufficient to support a § 922(g) conviction even when drug-trafficking counts fail for lack of proof connecting the defendant to drugs elsewhere in the home.
- A § 924(c) conviction predicated on a drug-trafficking offense cannot stand if the evidence is insufficient to prove the underlying drug-trafficking offense.

## Conclusion

The D.C. Circuit held that the government did not present enough evidence to show Dorman constructively possessed PCP concealed in common areas of a shared home, requiring reversal of the drug and related § 924(c) convictions, but it affirmed the felon-in-possession conviction because the pistol was found under the mattress in Dorman’s bedroom, supporting an inference of his knowledge and control.


United States v. Dorman, 860 F.3d 675 (D.C. Cir. 2017)