United States v. Hiachor Kpodi ( 2016 )


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  •  United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
    Argued February 16, 2016                 Decided May 31, 2016
    No. 14–3037
    UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
    APPELLEE
    v.
    HIACHOR KPODI,
    APPELLANT
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the District of Columbia
    (No. 1:13-cr-00214-1)
    Sandra G. Roland, Assistant Federal Public Defender,
    argued the cause for the appellant. A.J. Kramer, Federal
    Public Defender, was with her on brief. Tony Axam Jr.,
    Assistant Federal Public Defender, entered an appearance.
    Daniel J. Lenerz, Assistant United States Attorney, argued
    the cause for the appellee. Vincent H. Cohen Jr., Acting
    United States Attorney at the time the brief was filed, Elizabeth
    Trosman and Elizabeth H. Danello, Assistant United States
    Attorneys, were with him on brief.
    Before: HENDERSON, SRINIVASAN and MILLETT, Circuit
    Judges.
    2
    Opinion for the Court filed by Circuit Judge HENDERSON.
    KAREN LECRAFT HENDERSON, Circuit Judge: After his
    May 9, 2013 arrest, Hiachor Kpodi was convicted of
    possessing with intent to distribute twenty-eight grams or more
    of cocaine base and possession of a firearm by a felon. During
    sentencing, the district court considered, as an aggravating
    factor, evidence that Kpodi was involved in an unrelated
    gunfight even though it had prohibited the Government from
    introducing the same evidence during Kpodi’s trial. The court
    sentenced Kpodi to 151 months’ imprisonment on the cocaine
    possession count and 120 months’ imprisonment on the gun
    possession count, to run concurrently. For the reasons that
    follow, we vacate and remand for resentencing in light of the
    district court’s erroneous reliance on the evidence of the
    gunfight.
    I. BACKGROUND
    A.
    On May 9, 2013, 1 officers of the District of Columbia
    Metropolitan Police Department and the Maryland State Police
    searched a residence that Kpodi shared with a roommate.
    During the search, police found, inter alia, cocaine base on
    Kpodi, cocaine base and Percocet in his bedroom and a loaded
    .45 caliber Glock semi-automatic handgun in a kitchen cabinet.
    On December 3, a grand jury indicted Kpodi on one count of
    possessing with intent to distribute twenty-eight grams or more
    of cocaine base, in violation of 
    21 U.S.C. § 841
    (a)(1),
    (b)(1)(B)(iii) (Count I); one count of possessing with intent to
    distribute a detectable amount of oxycodone, in violation of 
    21 U.S.C. § 841
    (a)(1), (b)(1)(C) (Count II); one count of
    1
    All events occurred in 2013 unless otherwise indicated.
    3
    possession of a firearm by a felon, 2 in violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 922
    (g)(1) (Count III); and one count of using and carrying a
    firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense, in
    violation of 
    18 U.S.C. § 924
    (c)(1) (Count IV).
    Before trial, in its December 6 Motion to Admit Other
    Crimes Evidence (Motion), the Government proffered
    evidence of four related events: (1) a July 24, 1997 search of
    Kpodi’s then-apartment that produced multiple handguns and
    twenty ounces of cocaine; (2) an April 4 report of gun shots
    being fired near Kpodi’s house; (3) an April 27 traffic stop and
    search of Kpodi’s vehicle that uncovered a loaded .45 caliber
    Glock handgun; and (4) an October 30 search of a Silver
    Spring, Maryland residence where Kpodi often transacted
    business that led to the seizure of ammunition and 280 grams
    of crack cocaine. The April 4 shooting forms the factual
    gravamen of Kpodi’s appeal.
    On the evening of April 4, Kpodi’s neighbors reported gun
    shots near Kpodi’s house. The next day, two residents
    reported that bullets had struck their vehicles. During the
    ensuing investigation, crime-scene investigators recovered
    twenty-nine shell casings near Kpodi’s residence, fourteen of
    which were from a .45 caliber handgun—the same caliber as
    the handgun subsequently seized in Kpodi’s residence on May
    9. 3 On April 24, the police interviewed two witnesses who
    saw Kpodi fleeing to his residence and ducking behind
    2
    The parties stipulated that Kpodi had previously been
    convicted of a felony. 1/9/14 Trial Tr. 220.
    3
    The shell casings collected during the April 4 shooting, along
    with the evidence from the April 27 traffic stop, initiated the
    investigation that led to the search warrant executed at Kpodi’s
    residence on May 9.
    4
    vehicles while the shootings occurred. In its Motion, the
    Government summarized the witnesses’ testimony as follows:
    [O]ne witness reported seeing men running up
    and down the 2200 block of Perry Street while
    the shots were being fired. This witness
    indicated that the witness saw . . . [Kpodi]
    running. A second witness indicated that after
    hearing the gun shots the witness
    observed . . . [Kpodi] running from between
    2220 & 2222’s pathway. This witness also
    stated [Kpodi] . . . ducked close to the vehicles
    parked on the odd side of the street as if he was
    retrieving items, then ran inside his home.
    Appellant’s App’x (A.A.) 19. The Government argued that
    the .45 caliber shell casings collected near Kpodi’s residence
    further established his constructive possession of the .45
    caliber handgun recovered during the May 9 search, especially
    in view of the witnesses’ reports of seeing Kpodi duck behind
    the vehicles purportedly to retrieve the shell casings.
    According to the Government’s Motion, the eyewitness
    testimony and recovered shell casings showed that Kpodi
    possessed a firearm knowingly and intentionally around the
    time of his arrest and, accordingly, were admissible under
    Federal Rule of Evidence 404(b)(2) as evidence that “bears on
    the identity and the intent of the possessor of the firearm as
    well as the absence of any mistake or accident regarding its
    whereabouts.” A.A. 20. Kpodi disputed the relevance of this
    evidence, arguing that neither witness identified any person
    (including Kpodi) who fired shots or was holding a gun at the
    time the shots were fired but merely observed him on the
    neighborhood streets fleeing from the shootings.
    5
    During a December 18 hearing, the district court
    expressed concern regarding the alleged extent of Kpodi’s
    involvement in the events of April 4, stating that it was “quite
    vague” and that the evidence merely showed that, “[y]ou have
    clarity that Mr. Kpodi . . . [was] on the street”; “that Mr. Kpodi
    ran into his house” and that “Mr. Kpodi was ducking behind
    cars.” 12/18/2013 Hr’g Tr. 41. The court further explained
    that the evidence did not establish whether Kpodi had any
    active role in the shootings or was merely fleeing from the gun
    shots.
    The court eventually denied the Government’s 404(b)(2)
    Motion with respect to the April 4 gunfight, 4 finding that the
    “logical leaps” required to establish that Kpodi fired a
    later-seized Glock on April 4 were “simply too far,” especially
    “since eyewitnesses sufficiently observant to identify the
    defendant running on the street failed to see him holding a
    gun.” A.A. 55. The court explained that:
    other inferences are just as, if not more, clear:
    that the defendant’s presence in the area was
    due to the fact that he lived there; that the
    defendant was running for shelter in his own
    home to avoid the gunfire; that the defendant
    was ducking behind cars for cover; and
    finally,—and most significantly—that the
    defendant had no gun . . . .
    
    Id.
     (internal quotation marks omitted). Thus, because of the
    “limited and vague eyewitness testimony” that failed to
    identify Kpodi as a shooter that night, the district court
    reasoned that the “probative value of the April 4, 2013
    4
    The court admitted the evidence of the April 27 traffic stop
    and October 30 search but excluded the evidence of the July 1997
    search.
    6
    evidence [was] questionable” and its potential prejudicial
    effect was “severe” because “[t]he prejudicial effect of having
    the jury hear the [G]overnment’s speculation that the defendant
    engaged in a gunfight on neighborhood streets in this city, with
    all of the attendant risk to the safety of innocent bystanders and
    residents, including children, is significant.” 
    Id.
     at 57–58
    (internal quotation marks omitted). Trial began on January 7
    and ended on January 10, 2014, with guilty verdicts on Counts
    I and III and acquittals on Counts II and IV.
    B.
    The district court sentenced Kpodi on June 3, 2014.
    Kpodi’s Presentence Report (PSR) included the April 4
    evidence even though the trial court had excluded it before
    trial. Kpodi objected to the district court’s consideration of
    that evidence for sentencing, arguing that it was no more
    relevant for sentencing than it was for Rule 404(b)(2).
    The court disagreed, reasoning that: (1) the PSR
    “describes the shooting incident on the residential streets
    around the defendant’s residence on April 4”; (2) “two
    eyewitnesses identify the defendant as being involved”; and
    (3) “police found bullet casings that matched the same caliber
    gun found in the defendant’s residence during the execution of
    the search warrant a couple of weeks later.” 6/3/14 Hr’g Tr.
    11–12.     After acknowledging that it had denied the
    Government’s December 6 Motion, the district court saw “no
    reason for exclusion from the PSR of this evidence for
    description of the circumstances that led to the investigation
    and ultimately to the execution of the search warrant at Mr.
    Kpodi’s home.” 
    Id. at 12
    .
    Later in the hearing, during the court’s discussion of the 
    18 U.S.C. § 3553
     factors, the court addressed the other-crimes
    evidence, including the April 4 gunfight:
    7
    The events leading to the execution of the
    search warrant at the defendant’s house on May
    9th, 2013, while not admitted at trial as being
    too prejudicial, are chilling. We read all too
    frequently in the newspapers when we wake up
    in the morning about innocent bystanders,
    including children, inside their homes being
    accidentally shot by gunfire occurring on the
    streets, and in this case two eyewitnesses
    identified Mr. Kpodi as participating in such a
    gunfight outside his home in D.C. a short time
    before the search warrant was obtained.
    While we don’t know the precise reason for the
    gunfight or the defendant’s precise role in the
    gunfight, what is clear from the defendant’s
    involvement and participation in the gunfight
    combined with the loaded guns found in his
    possession during the [April 27] car-stop in the
    same month as the street gunfight and in his
    D.C. home where he stored his drugs is that he
    was clearly prepared to use a gun as part of his
    illegal drug business.
    To me this is a very important circumstance that
    the association of the defendant’s drug
    conviction with guns that is a very important
    consideration in the Court’s determination of
    which sentence recommendation is appropriate
    in this case.
    
    Id.
     at 47–48 (emphases added).
    The PSR calculated Kpodi’s base offense level as 32, with
    an additional two-level enhancement for possession of a
    dangerous weapon, and calculated his criminal history as III.
    8
    The court reduced the total offense level by two due to
    mitigating circumstances, resulting in a Guidelines range of
    151 to 180 months on Count I and 120 months, the statutory
    maximum, on Count III. The court sentenced Kpodi to
    concurrent terms of 151 months’ imprisonment on Count I and
    120 months’ imprisonment on Count III. Kpodi timely
    appealed his sentence. Our jurisdiction arises under 
    28 U.S.C. § 1291
    .
    II. ANALYSIS
    Kpodi argues that the district court erred by considering
    the April 4 evidence when it sentenced him. The Government
    responds that the court did not abuse its discretion in relying on
    that evidence during sentencing, notwithstanding it had
    excluded the same evidence before trial as unduly prejudicial.
    Alternatively, the Government argues that any error was
    harmless.
    A.
    We review Kpodi’s challenge to his sentence for abuse of
    discretion, applying the two-step approach from Gall v. United
    States, 
    552 U.S. 38
     (2007). First, we “ensure that the district
    court committed no significant procedural error, such as failing
    to calculate (or improperly calculating) the Guidelines range,
    treating the Guidelines as mandatory, failing to consider the
    § 3553(a) factors, selecting a sentence based on clearly
    erroneous facts, or failing to adequately explain the chosen
    sentence . . . .” Id. at 51. Second, “[a]ssuming that the
    district court’s sentencing decision is procedurally sound,” we
    “then consider the substantive reasonableness of the sentence
    imposed . . . tak[ing] into account the totality of the
    circumstances.” Id.
    9
    Because a sentence must “not be based on improper or
    inaccurate information,” United States v. Lemon, 
    723 F.2d 922
    ,
    933 (D.C. Cir. 1983) (internal quotation marks omitted), we
    must determine whether the court relied on “clearly erroneous
    facts” in reaching the ultimate sentence, Gall, 
    552 U.S. at 51
    .
    It is not per se error, however, for the sentencing judge to
    consider facts beyond those found by the jury. See United
    States v. Watts, 
    519 U.S. 148
    , 157 (1997) (“[A] jury’s verdict
    of acquittal does not prevent the sentencing court from
    considering conduct underlying the acquitted charge, so long
    as that conduct has been proved by a preponderance of the
    evidence.”); accord United States v. Settles, 
    530 F.3d 920
    ,
    923–24 (D.C. Cir. 2008). “[The clearly erroneous] standard
    applies to the inferences drawn from findings of fact as well as
    to the findings themselves.” Overby v. Nat’l Ass’n of Letter
    Carriers, 
    595 F.3d 1290
    , 1294 (D.C. Cir. 2010) (quoting
    Halberstam v. Welch, 
    705 F.2d 472
    , 486 (D.C. Cir. 1983)).
    According to Kpodi, the district court abused its discretion
    when it changed tack between trial and sentencing, reasoning
    pre-trial that the witness testimony and shell casings were not
    sufficiently probative that Kpodi had fired a weapon or
    participated in the April 4 shootings but concluding at
    sentencing that Kpodi was prepared to use guns in furtherance
    of his illegal drug business in light of the April 4 evidence.
    We agree. We have not previously determined whether a
    district court may consider Rule 404(b)(2) evidence during
    sentencing if it excluded the same evidence as unduly
    prejudicial before trial and we need not decide whether a
    categorical bar is warranted. Instead, we believe the district
    court abused its discretion by relying on a clearly erroneous
    inference in sentencing Kpodi.
    During the pre-trial proceedings, the Government
    proffered two pieces of evidence to demonstrate that Kpodi
    10
    participated in the April 4 shootings: (1) the .45 caliber shell
    casings collected near Kpodi’s house that matched the caliber
    of the gun police later found when they searched his residence;
    and (2) the testimony of the two witnesses interviewed by the
    police. But as the district court explained before trial, this
    evidence, standing alone, did not support the Government’s
    inference that Kpodi fired a gun during the shootings or held a
    weapon while fleeing. According to the court, the eyewitness
    testimony was vague—it established only that Kpodi was
    nearby when the shooting occurred, ran from the gunshots and
    ducked behind a car. The .45 caliber shell casings also did not
    advance the Government’s argument—they were not linked
    specifically to Kpodi’s gun and therefore had little probative
    value with respect to the court’s eventual conclusion that
    Kpodi was prepared to use guns in the furtherance of his drug
    trade. At best, one witness stated that Kpodi ducked behind
    vehicles “as if he was retrieving items,” A.A. 19, but such an
    ambiguous statement inadequately supports an inference that
    Kpodi in fact picked up shell casings similar to those later
    found at the scene, much less that he used or was carrying a
    weapon at the time of the shootings. The district court
    therefore correctly concluded that “other inferences are just as,
    if not more, ‘clear,’ ” A.A. 55; that is, it was just as likely that
    Kpodi fled from gunfire and took shelter behind a car.
    The district court’s pre-trial analysis was eminently
    reasonable. The court, however, switched course during
    sentencing. The court stated that the April 4 incident “shows
    that . . . there’s no surprise that he also used [guns],” and “as
    [disturbing] as it is, that he would engage in a shootout on the
    residential streets of the city.” 6/3/14 Hr’g Tr. 12. During its
    section 3553 analysis, the court referred to this evidence as
    “chilling,” tying it to “children, inside their homes being
    accidentally shot by gunfire occurring on the streets.” 
    Id.
     at
    47–48. Critically, the court claimed that the eyewitnesses
    11
    “identified Mr. Kpodi as participating in such a gunfight,” id.
    at 48 (emphasis added), even though the witnesses merely
    observed Kpodi fleeing, ducking and appearing to pick up
    something from the ground. The court recognized the
    uncertainty of Kpodi’s role in the April 4 shootings, stating that
    “we don’t know the precise reason for the gunfight or the
    defendant’s precise role in the gunfight” but it nevertheless
    believed that this evidence, in combination with the admitted
    evidence of the April 27 traffic stop and October 30 search,
    showed that Kpodi “was clearly prepared to use a gun as part of
    his illegal drug business.” Id. at 48. The court noted that the
    April 4 evidence was “a very important circumstance” and “a
    very important consideration in the Court’s determination of
    which sentence recommendation is appropriate.”                 Id.
    Nevertheless, in view of the vagueness of the evidence of
    Kpodi’s actions on April 4, the district court’s inference that
    Kpodi either fired a weapon, was holding a gun while fleeing
    or even participated in the April 4 shooting was clearly
    erroneous. The district court therefore abused its discretion
    by relying on that clearly erroneous inference during
    sentencing.
    The Government, however, argues that the district court
    did not act inconsistently in its pre-trial analysis and in its
    subsequent sentencing. According to the Government, the
    district court excluded the April 4 evidence before trial because
    the Government failed to adequately support its argument that
    Kpodi used a gun during the shooting. The Government
    claims that the court’s earlier analysis, however, differs from
    its conclusion reached during sentencing that Kpodi
    participated in the April 4 shooting, which, in its view, is well
    supported by the witness testimony and the recovered shell
    casings. See Appellee’s Br. 21 (“Nowhere in its order
    addressing the [G]overnment’s motion did the district court
    find that appellant had not been involved with or participated in
    12
    the April 4, 2013, shooting incident (by, for example, picking
    up spent shell casings off the ground, or aiding other
    individuals who were shooting and/or being shot at).”
    (emphasis in original)). 5
    Again, the Government’s argument runs contrary to the
    district court’s statements during sentencing. The court did
    not conclude that Kpodi “would engage in a shootout” based
    solely on the fact he might have bent over to pick up shell
    casings; the court plainly viewed him as a shooter based on the
    statements it made during sentencing. 6/3/14 Hr’g Tr. 12.
    For example, the court discussed the frequency of shootings
    that could harm “innocent bystanders, including children.”
    Id. at 47. Although it did not “know . . . the defendant’s
    precise role in the gunfight,” the court’s discussion of the April
    4 event and of Kpodi’s role therein makes clear that Kpodi’s
    “participation” did not refer to his cleaning up evidence. Id. at
    48. More to the point, the court stated that Kpodi’s
    “involvement and participation in the gunfight” supported its
    conclusion that he “was clearly prepared to use a gun as part of
    his illegal drug business.” Id. (emphasis added). That
    inference is supported by neither the witness testimony nor by
    the fact that shell casings were recovered near Kpodi’s
    residence. The April 4 evidence does not support the
    conclusion that Kpodi used a gun in his illegal drug business; at
    most it shows that Kpodi lived near the area where the shooting
    occurred and might have retrieved evidence. Although the
    evidence from the April 27 traffic stop and October 30 search
    may ultimately support the district court’s conclusion that
    Kpodi had a propensity to use firearms in connection with his
    5
    See also Oral Arg. Recording at 18:20–19:20 (Government
    iterating that, even if the evidence did not show that Kpodi fired a
    weapon on April 4, it demonstrated Kpodi’s participation in the
    shootings by, for example, his picking up shell casings at the scene).
    13
    drug dealings, the inference that the April 4 evidence
    demonstrated that propensity was clearly erroneous. 6
    B.
    The Government further argues that any error by the
    district court in its consideration of the April 4 evidence was
    harmless because the court’s reliance on that evidence did not
    affect Kpodi’s sentence. We disagree.
    Under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(a), “[a]ny
    error, defect, irregularity, or variance that does not affect
    substantial rights must be disregarded.” FED. R. CRIM. P.
    52(a). If the error affects no constitutional rights, it is
    harmless unless it had a “substantial and injurious effect or
    influence.” 7 United States v. Powell, 
    334 F.3d 42
    , 45 (D.C.
    6
    Even were we to adopt the Government’s argument that the
    district court was consistent in its pre-trial conclusion and its
    consideration of the April 4 evidence during sentencing, the
    evidence would nonetheless fail to support the inference that Kpodi
    was prepared to use a gun in furtherance of his drug trade. The only
    evidence potentially showing that Kpodi picked up shell casings that
    evening was a single witness statement that Kpodi, while fleeing,
    “ducked close to the vehicles parked on the odd side of the street as if
    he was retrieving items.” A.A. 19. No witness identified him
    picking up any item, including shell casings. And the fact that the
    shell casings match the type of gun later seized from Kpodi’s
    residence is largely irrelevant—the Government did not connect
    those recovered shell casings to the gun later seized from Kpodi’s
    residence.
    7
    In contrast, “[a] constitutional error is harmless” only “if it
    appears ‘beyond a reasonable doubt that the error complained of did
    not contribute to the [sentence] obtained.’ ” United States v.
    Simpson, 
    430 F.3d 1177
    , 1184 (D.C. Cir. 2005) (second alteration in
    original) (emphasis added) (quoting Chapman v. California, 
    386 U.S. 18
    , 24 (1967)). Because the Government fails under both the
    14
    Cir. 2003) (quoting Kotteakos v. United States, 
    328 U.S. 750
    ,
    776 (1946)). “[I]n most cases, [this] means that the error must
    have been prejudicial: [i]t must have affected the outcome of
    the district court proceedings.” United States v. Olano, 
    507 U.S. 725
    , 734 (1993); see also United States v. Williams, 
    503 U.S. 193
    , 203 (1992) (“[O]nce the court of appeals has decided
    that the district court misapplied the Guidelines, a remand is
    appropriate unless the reviewing court concludes, on the record
    as a whole, that the error was harmless, i.e., that the error did
    not affect the district court’s selection of the sentence
    imposed.”). However, “[i]f we ha[ve] any doubt as to whether
    the    erroneous       understanding     the     District   Court
    expressed . . . affected the District Court’s sentencing decision,
    we [will] not hold the error to be harmless.” United States v.
    Ayers, 
    795 F.3d 168
    , 176 (D.C. Cir. 2015). “The government
    bears the burden of proving the absence of such an effect.”
    United States v. Linares, 
    367 F.3d 941
    , 952 (D.C. Cir. 2004).
    We have not previously addressed harmless error in the
    context of a sentencing court’s reliance on a clearly erroneous
    inference. 8 The Government has nevertheless failed to
    more stringent constitutional error and the less stringent
    non-constitutional error analysis, we need not determine the
    appropriate standard here.
    8
    The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
    discussed an analogous situation in United States v. Wright, 
    24 F.3d 732
     (5th Cir. 1994). The district court in Wright granted an upward
    departure on the basis of a factual finding—that Wright
    constructively possessed a gun—which the court of appeals found to
    be clearly erroneous. 
    Id.
     at 734–35. The court explained that,
    “[s]ubtracting that incident from the quantum of facts the court used
    in deciding to depart upward, we cannot conclude whether the
    sentencing court still would have decided to depart upward and, if so,
    by how much. In other words, we cannot conclude that the court’s
    error was harmless.” 
    Id. at 736
    . Wright demonstrates that at least
    15
    establish that the district court’s discussion of the April 4
    shooting did not affect its sentencing decision.             The
    Government first argues that the error was harmless because
    Kpodi was given a sentence at the bottom of the Guidelines
    range. Kpodi requested a below-Guideline sentence because
    of, inter alia, his continuing efforts to remain part of his
    children’s lives.      The district court recognized this
    consideration during its balancing of the section 3553 factors 9
    and could have granted a downward departure in its discretion.
    The court declined to grant the departure, instead imposing a
    sentence at the low end of the Guidelines range. On
    resentencing, the court remains free to grant a downward
    departure as requested in light of Kpodi’s interest in his family
    when rebalancing the section 3553 factors once the April 4
    evidence is removed from consideration. But the fact that
    Kpodi was sentenced to the bottom of the Guidelines range is
    one of our sister circuits has remanded for resentencing on the basis
    of the district court’s reliance on a clearly erroneous factual finding.
    See also United States v. Grier, 
    475 F.3d 556
    , 570 (3d Cir. 2007) (en
    banc) (“A sentence imposed as a result of a clearly erroneous factual
    conclusion will generally be deemed ‘unreasonable’ and, subject to
    the doctrines of plain and harmless error, will result in remand to the
    district court for resentencing.”). The Government claims that
    Wright is distinguishable because the district court in Wright heavily
    relied on the erroneous factual finding in granting the upward
    departure but the April 4 shooting evidence was only one of multiple
    considerations the district court reviewed in reaching the 151–month
    sentence. We remain unconvinced that the April 4 evidence played
    as minor a role in sentencing as the Government contends.
    9
    See 6/3/14 Hr’g Tr. 49 (“And it is because . . . he has
    indicated his concern about playing a role in his kids’ lives, which is
    not a newfound calling but one that seems to have been part of his
    history so far, that I feel that rather than sentence at the midpoint of
    the appropriate Guideline range, I’m going to impose a sentence at
    the low end of the Guideline range.”)
    16
    itself insufficient to render the court’s consideration of the
    April 4 evidence harmless.
    The Government also argues that the district court’s error
    was harmless because the April 4 shooting was one of multiple
    incidents that led the court to conclude that Kpodi was likely to
    use guns in furtherance of his drug transactions. The
    Government’s argument, however, again mischaracterizes the
    tone of the sentencing hearing. As discussed, the court stated
    that “there’s no surprise that [Kpodi] also used” guns and “that
    he would engage in a shootout on the residential streets of the
    city.” 6/3/14 Hr’g Tr. 12. The court called the April 4
    incident “chilling,” referenced it specifically in discussing the
    harm to “innocent bystanders, including children,” and
    explained that it was a “very important circumstance” and
    “very important consideration” in determining “which
    sentence recommendation is appropriate.” 
    Id.
     at 47–48. The
    district court considered the other Rule 404(b)(2) evidence as
    well as the April 4 evidence during its balancing of the section
    3553 factors but it is a stretch for the Government to claim that
    the court’s reference to the April 4 gunfight had no effect on its
    “selection of the sentence imposed.” Williams, 
    503 U.S. at 203
    . On the basis of the sentencing transcript, we cannot
    conclude that the consideration of the April 4 evidence did not
    have a “substantial and injurious effect or influence” on
    Kpodi’s sentence. Powell, 
    334 F.3d at 45
    .
    For the foregoing reasons, we vacate Kpodi’s sentence and
    remand for resentencing.
    So ordered.