## Facts

- Law enforcement investigated a methamphetamine distribution network involving Abraham Duran.
- A wiretap captured three calls between Duran and a phone later attributed to Gilberto Ray Ramos; coded language (“more,” “the other part”) was treated as referring to methamphetamine.
- Duran, cooperating under a plea agreement after his own conviction, identified Ramos as the caller and testified they had an arrangement for Duran to supply methamphetamine for Ramos to resell from Ramos’s apartment.
- Officers searched Ramos’s two-bedroom apartment (shared with a woman) and found a ledger, digital scale, baggies, cash, and methamphetamine in the kitchen.
- In one bedroom, officers found a .45 caliber pistol under a mattress; the bedroom closet contained both men’s and women’s clothing.
- A text message retrieved from Duran’s phone showed Ramos offering to sell Duran a .40 caliber firearm.
- Ramos, a convicted felon, was charged with multiple methamphetamine offenses and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient to support the methamphetamine conspiracy, distribution, and possession-with-intent-to-distribute convictions.
2. Whether the evidence was sufficient to prove Ramos constructively possessed the firearm found under the mattress for purposes of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1).
3. Whether admitting an exhibit containing an Arkansas Parole Board waiver form was an abuse of discretion under Federal Rule of Evidence 403 due to unfair prejudice.
4. Whether the sentence was substantively unreasonable under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a), given the challenged convictions and Guidelines calculations.

## Decision

- Affirmed the drug convictions, holding the wiretap evidence, Duran’s testimony, and items seized from the apartment supported the jury’s verdict.
- Reversed the § 922(g)(1) conviction, holding the government failed to present sufficient evidence of constructive possession of the firearm.
- Affirmed the evidentiary ruling admitting the exhibit that included the parole-board waiver form, finding no abuse of discretion under Rule 403.
- Vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing on the remaining drug counts after reversal of the firearm conviction.

## Legal Principles

- On sufficiency review, the court views the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and draws reasonable inferences supporting the jury’s decision.
- Constructive possession of a firearm requires proof the defendant had ownership, dominion, or control over the firearm or over the premises where it was located; proximity or joint occupancy alone is insufficient.
- In multi-occupant premises, the government must present additional evidence linking the defendant to the specific firearm (such as exclusive control of the area, admissions, forensic evidence, or other direct ties).
- Rule 403 permits exclusion only when unfair-prejudice risk substantially outweighs probative value; limiting instructions and the trial court’s balancing are reviewed for abuse of discretion.
- When a conviction affecting the Guidelines framework is reversed, the appropriate remedy is to vacate the sentence and remand for resentencing on the affirmed counts.

## Conclusion

The Eighth Circuit upheld Ramos’s methamphetamine convictions but reversed his felon-in-possession conviction because the firearm’s location in a jointly used bedroom, without additional evidence tying Ramos to the gun, did not establish constructive possession; the court also upheld the challenged evidentiary ruling and remanded for resentencing on the drug counts.


United States v. Ramos, 852 F.3d 747 (8th Cir. 2017)