In United States v. Gumbs, No. 18-13182 (July 15,
2020) (Luck, William Pryor, Jill Pryor), the Court affirmed the
defendant’s convictions for using a deadly weapon to forcibly assault a federal
officer.
First, the Court found no abuse of discretion in refusing to
give the defendant’s proposed jury instructions. With regard to the term “forcibly,” the court’s
instruction tracked the language of the federal assault statute, which had a generally
understood meaning using basic grade-school grammar. With regard to “use of a deadly weapon,” the
defendant’s proposed instruction relating to a car as a deadly weapon was
substantially covered by the court’s instruction, and the court was not
required to separately define the word “use” because it has a common
meaning. With regard to the court’s
failure to give an instruction on the lesser included offense of simple
assault, the Court concluded that there was no way the jury could have found
him guilty of assault without finding him guilty of forcible assault.
Second, the Court found no abuse of discretion in the
district court’s response to the jury’s question relating to the use of a car
as a deadly weapon. The court repeated
the relevant portion of its earlier instruction, which was a correct statement
of the law.
Third, the Court found sufficient evidence to support one of
his convictions. The Court rejected the
defendant’s argument that he did not direct force against officers next to his
car, because he stepped on the gas pedal as
officers were reaching inside the car to arrest him.
