## Facts

- DEA agents ran a reverse-sting using a confidential informant and an undercover agent posing as a drug supplier.
- Mark Anthony Beckford negotiated to obtain large quantities of marijuana (and cocaine) and arranged for delivery in Atlanta, proposing a trade involving cash and firearms.
- Beckford and Randy Vana Haile, Jr. arrived at the meeting location to complete the transaction and were arrested.
- A search of Beckford’s truck found cash and multiple firearms (including a machine gun, a handgun, rifles, and ammunition) stored in the back of the truck.
- One rifle had an obliterated serial number.
- The government proceeded on a constructive-possession theory as to the firearms and, for the obliterated-serial-number count, offered no direct evidence that Beckford knew the serial number had been obliterated and no evidence showing how long or under what circumstances he possessed that rifle.

## Issues

1. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 922(k) requires proof that the defendant knew the firearm’s serial number was removed, obliterated, or altered.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove Beckford’s knowledge of the serial-number obliteration for his § 922(k) conviction.
3. Whether the defendants’ remaining drug-trafficking and firearms convictions and sentences should be affirmed.

## Decision

- The Eleventh Circuit affirmed in part and reversed in part.
- The court held that § 922(k) requires proof the defendant knew the serial number was removed/obliterated/altered.
- The court reversed Beckford’s conviction on the § 922(k) count due to insufficient evidence of knowledge.
- The court otherwise affirmed the remaining convictions and sentences, including Haile’s sentence and the drug-trafficking and § 924(c) counts.

## Legal Principles

- Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(k), the government must prove the defendant knowingly possessed a firearm and knew the firearm’s serial number had been removed, obliterated, or altered.
- Constructive possession can establish possession of a firearm, but constructive possession alone does not establish knowledge of a serial-number obliteration.
- A jury may infer knowledge from circumstantial evidence, but the inference must be supported by evidence (such as duration and circumstances of possession or other facts indicating awareness) rather than speculation based only on opportunity.

## Conclusion

The Eleventh Circuit vacated Beckford’s § 922(k) conviction because the government failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he knew a rifle’s serial number was obliterated, while affirming the defendants’ other convictions and sentences arising from the reverse-sting drug-and-guns transaction.


United States v. Haile, 685 F.3d 1211 (11th Cir. 2012)