United States v. Ridner

512 F.3d 846 (6th Cir. 2008)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Police approached the home of Ella Mae Goodin in search of D. Ella is the ex-wife of Scotty's brother, Freddy Ridner. Prior to the officers' arrival, Freddy and D were sitting on the front porch. Upon seeing the approaching officers, Scotty ran through the residence and exited the back door. Police apprehended him a short distance from the home. The officers proceeded to search Scotty and found him in possession of three rounds of shotgun ammunition. A search of the premises. yielded a 12-gauge shotgun under the sofa. A grand injury indicted D for being a convicted felon in possession of a 12-gauge shotgun and three rounds of 12-gauge ammunition. P filed a motion in limine to prevent D from producing any testimony or evidence related to a necessity defense. P claimed he was only carrying ammunition to keep it away from his brother who was allegedly acting suicidal the morning of the arrest. That morning Ella allegedly told D that Freddy 'was acting funny again, talking crazy' which traditionally meant, according to Scotty, that Freddy is 'talking suicide' or 'fixing to take a seizure.' While sitting on the porch, the two brothers allegedly discussed Freddy's desire to retrieve his gun from a pawnshop. D testified that Freddy 'was talking that morning that he was going to kill hisself [sic]. He said he would be better off dead than having to live like he was.' When Ella brought Freddy another cup of coffee, he dropped the shells while switching hands. D picked up the shells and put them in his pocket 'just a few minutes' before the officers arrived. D testified that his brother Graylan shot and killed himself in 1992 in front of D and that Freddy had attempted suicide, also with a gun, 'a few years before.' D admitted that he did not know of any gun located in the house on that particular day and that his primary concern was that his brother would attempt to retrieve the gun from the pawnshop, which he thought might be a 12-gauge shotgun. The court refused D any opportunity to claim necessity as a defense. D appealed.