IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FIFTH CIRCUIT
No. 02-60325
Conference Calendar
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
versus
EDWIN SIMS,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Northern District of Mississippi
USDC No. 3:01-CR-135-2-P
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February 19, 2003
Before WIENER, EMILIO M. GARZA, and CLEMENT, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:*
Edwin Sims appeals his sentence following a guilty-plea
conviction for distribution of more than five grams of cocaine
base. Sims argues that the district court erred in imposing a
two-level sentencing increase for possession of a firearm during
the commission of the offense. U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(1).
Sims concedes that the firearm was recovered underneath his
couch along with drug residue and paraphernalia inside his
residence. He also concedes that ammunition and a bulletproof
*
Pursuant to 5TH CIR. R. 47.5, the court has determined
that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent
except under the limited circumstances set forth in 5TH CIR.
R. 47.5.4.
No. 02-60325
-2-
vest were found in his residence. The record reflects that Sims
sold drugs at his residence to a cooperating government witness.
These facts establish that the district court did not clearly
err in finding a temporal and spatial relationship between the
weapon, the drug-trafficking offense, and Sims. See United
States v. Mitchell, 31 F.3d 271, 278 (5th Cir. 1994). Sims’s
argument that the firearm was unloaded is immaterial. See id.
Sims also contends that he is entitled to a two-level
decrease under U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(6) and its cross-referenced
safety-valve provision U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2 for first-time offenders.
The district court’s finding that Sims possessed a firearm in
connection with the offense disqualified him from saftey-valve
consideration. See U.S.S.G. § 5C1.2(a)(2). Accordingly, the
sentence is AFFIRMED.