Supreme Court of the United States · 1998-06-08
Case and law context
Role: applied; posture: criminal; two consolidated cases (Muscarello, CA5, guilty plea; Cleveland and Gray-Santana, CA1) in which the courts of appeals upheld "carry" convictions for guns in a locked glove compartment / car trunk; certiorari on whether "carries" is limited to carrying on the person; affirmed 5-4; result: claimant-won; claim: (c)(1)
Instances and excluded annotation blocks
| Case | Element | Holding and scope | Variant | Exact source quotations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /us/524/0125-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 1998 | Knowingly possess and convey the firearm | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: law; claim: (c)(1); party: Muscarello; subject: party=Muscarello Facts undisputed (plea); the only question was legal: whether a handgun locked in the glove compartment of the truck he drove to the sale is "carried". Held yes; neither "on the person" nor "immediately accessible" is required. | vehicle/conveyance | Petitioner in the first case, Frank J. Muscarello, unlawfully sold marijuana, which he carried in his truck to the place of sale.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [699:828] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.Police officers found a handgun locked in the truck’s glove compartment.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [829:901] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.it also applies to a person who knowingly possesses and conveys firearms in a vehicle, including in the locked glove compartment or trunk of a car, which the person accompanies.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [444:621] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.That interpretation, however, is difficult to square with the statute’s language, for one “carries” a gun in the glove compartment whether or not that glove compartment is locked.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [23243:23422] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.For these reasons, we conclude that petitioners’ conduct falls within the scope of the phrase “carries a firearm.”Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [25415:25529] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0. |
| /us/524/0125-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 1998 | Knowingly possess and convey the firearm | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: law; claim: (c)(1); party: Cleveland and Gray-Santana; subject: party=Cleveland and Gray-Santana Guns in a bag in the trunk of the car the defendants rode to the planned drug rip-off. The court-of-appeals holdings that they "carried" are affirmed on the legal question; the opinion does not say whether the convictions rested on a verdict or a plea. | vehicle/conveyance | Petitioners in the second case, Donald Cleveland and Enrique Gray-Santana, placed several guns in a bag, put the bag in the trunk of a ear, and then traveled by ear to a proposed drug-sale point, where they intended to steal drugs from the sellers.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [1289:1537] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.Federal agents at the scene stopped them, searched the ears, found the guns and drugs, and arrested them.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [1538:1643] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.In sum, the “generally accepted contemporary meaning” of the word “carry” includes the carrying of a firearm in a vehicle.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [25038:25160] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.“Carry” implies personal agency and some degree of possession, whereas “transport” does not have such a limited connotation and, in addition, implies the movement of goods in bulk over great distances.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [15735:15936] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.We granted certiorari to determine whether the fact that the guns were found in the locked glove compartment, or the trunk, of a ear precludes application of § 924(c)(1). We conclude that it does not.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [1846:2046] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0. |
| /us/524/0125-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 1998 | Knowingly possess and convey the firearm | not Excluded from merits counts applied / dissent basis: law; claim: (c)(1); opinion: Ginsburg, J., dissenting (joined by Rehnquist, C.J., Scalia and Souter, JJ.); subject: opinion=Ginsburg, J., dissenting (joined by Rehnquist, C.J., Scalia and Souter, JJ.) Dissent: "carries a firearm" means bearing on or about the person, ready for use; rule of lenity. Would reverse both judgments. | vehicle/conveyance | I would read the words to indicate not merely keeping arms on one’s premises or in one’s vehicle, but bearing them in such manner as to be ready for use as a weapon.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [27295:27460] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.So reading the “Firearms” statutes, I would not extend the word “carries” in § 924(c)(1) to mean transports out of hand’s reach in a vehicle.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [36864:37005] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0. |
| /us/524/0125-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 1998 | During and in relation to the predicate | not_reached Excluded from merits counts rule-announced / merits claim: (c)(1) The Court relies on this element as the limit on its broad reading of "carry" (answering the checked-luggage hypothetical) but does not review whether it was met; the courts of appeals had found it, and Muscarello had admitted it at his plea before recanting. | Unspecified variant | During plea proceedings, Muscarello admitted that he had “carried” the gun “for protection in relation” to the drug offenseSource: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [902:1025] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.Congress added these words in part to prevent prosecution where guns “played” no part in the crime.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [21384:21483] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.The limiting phrase “during and in relation to” should prevent misuse of the statute to penalize those whose conduct does not create the risks of harm at which the statute aims.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [25237:25414] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0. |
Court interpretations recorded from this case
interpretation
it also applies to a person who knowingly possesses and conveys firearms in a vehicle, including in the locked glove compartment or trunk of a car, which the person accompanies.
/us/524/0125-01 — Supreme Court of the United States · 1998
it also applies to a person who knowingly possesses and conveys firearms in a vehicle, including in the locked glove compartment or trunk of a car, which the person accompanies.Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/us_524.jsonl#/us/524/0125-01; Unicode character offsets [444:621] (end exclusive); SHA-256 90ca66b30e958162a71baf4038bf5a49a4311a516e691a4aceb9d17a25c6f2b0.