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Criminal Law-Felon in Possession of Firearm-Evidence of Prior Possession-Guidelines Calculation
Staff Report//March 11, 2026//
Defendant appealed his conviction and sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm, arguing that the district court erred in admitting evidence of his prior possession of firearms while excluding testimony indicating that he had not been seen in possession of firearms and erroneously calculated his Guidelines range. Defendant also challenged the upward variance
Where dashcam footage showed defendant throwing an object out of his vehicle and police later recovered a firearm in the area where the object had landed, and the government presented other testimony linking defendant to the firearm, there was sufficient evidence to support his conviction and the admission of evidence of his prior possession was harmless error at most.
Judgment is affirmed.
U.S. v. Vanvacter (MLW No. 84440/Case No. 25-1511 – 5 pages) (U.S. Court of Appeals, 8th Circuit, per curiam) Appealed from U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa, Strand, J.
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