A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld the conviction and 15-year prison sentence of a Missouri man who orchestrated a straw purchase scheme to obtain handguns, one of which was later tied to the fatal shooting of his girlfriend.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed the judgment against Darius Carter, who was convicted of making and conspiring to make false statements during a firearm purchase.
According to court records, Carter, a convicted felon, and his 20-year-old girlfriend, Sarah Mason, were legally barred from purchasing firearms. Carter arranged for his mother to buy two handguns on layaway from a pawn shop. Carter and Mason funded all but the final payment, while Carter’s mother completed federal paperwork falsely claiming she was the actual buyer.
The scheme went undetected until months later, when authorities discovered Mason dead from a gunshot wound to the back of her head. The recovery of Mason’s pistol at the scene led investigators to trace the transactions back to Carter.
At trial, prosecutors introduced testimony from a detective noting that Mason died under “suspicious circumstances.” Carter appealed his conviction, arguing the statement improperly influenced the jury by implying he killed her.
Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge David R. Stras found that while the district court erred by admitting the detective’s remark because it was “wholly irrelevant” to the gun paperwork charges, the error was harmless given the “overwhelming” evidence of Carter’s guilt. Records showed Carter had discussed using a straw buyer with a pawn shop worker, withdrew matching funds, and referred to one weapon as “my gun” in text messages.
“After Darius Carter’s mother bought him a gun from a pawn shop, he killed someone with it,” Stras wrote in the opinion. “Although he denies any role in buying it and claims the district court made two mistakes, one at trial and the other at sentencing, we affirm.”
At sentencing, U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey applied a homicide cross-reference under federal sentencing guidelines after determining by a preponderance of the evidence that Carter used the purchased Heckler & Koch VP9 pistol to kill Mason. Evidence presented included cell-site records placing Carter near the scene, a strained relationship stemming from Carter’s infidelity, and ballistics consistent with the missing firearm.
The guideline enhancement triggered a jump to the statutory maximum penalty of 180 months in prison.
Circuit Judge Jane Kelly concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing the murder enhancement was misapplied because the killing took place months after the straw purchase and was not part of the same course of conduct. Kelly wrote that she would have remanded the case for resentencing.
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