No. 20-2404 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllllPlaintiff - Appellee

v.

James Anthony Wilkins, Jr.

lllllllllllllllllllllDefendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri - Cape Girardeau ____________

Submitted: December 17, 2021 Filed: February 9, 2022 ____________ Before LOKEN, SHEPHERD, and STRAS, Circuit Judges. ____________ LOKEN, Circuit Judge.

After James Anthony Wilkins, Jr. pleaded guilty to a felon in possession of a firearm charge, a jury convicted him of two other charges, forcibly assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement with a dangerous weapon in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 111(a)(1) and (b), and brandishing a firearm in furtherance of this § 111 offense in violation of § 924(c)(1)(A)(ii). Wilkins appeals, arguing insufficient evidence to convict beyond a reasonable doubt, and that the district court1 improperly instructed the jury on the elements of the § 111 offense. We affirm.

I. Background

On February 28, 2015, United States Marshals Clark Meadows and Michael Miller and Cape Girardeau Police Sergeant Joe Hann proceeded to a Cape Girardeau, Missouri motel to arrest Wilkins, who was wanted by Mississippi officials in connection with a nightclub shooting. The motel clerk referred the officers to Room 210, where the occupant recognized a photo of Wilkins, referred them to Room 206, and said Wilkins had a gun. During the two-day trial, the government called nine witnesses, including the three officers who knocked on the door of Room 206, and Kacey Romans, who answered their knock and opened the door. Their testimony was corroborated by a cell phone video of the encounter.

When the officers knocked at Room 206, Wilkins, who had seen officers in the motel parking lot, told Romans to answer the door. He went into the bathroom to dispose of drug contraband and hide his firearm. Romans initially told the officers she did not know if Wilkins was there. Through the open door, the officers saw Wilkins “poke his head out of the bathroom” and asked Romans to leave the room for her safety. As Romans left, she said Wilkins might have a gun. The officers then issued repeated, loud commands that the person in the bathroom drop his firearm and come out with his hands up. Wilkins remained in the bathroom for two or three minutes, initially to complete flushing his drug contraband. He told the officers he had a gun, briefly displayed it, and said “Don’t shoot me.” The officers said, “We’re not going to shoot you.”

1 The Honorable Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr., United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri

-2- Marshal Meadows testified that while Wilkins was hiding in the bathroom, Meadows could see him holding the gun so it could easily be fired. When Wilkins finally came to the bathroom doorway, Meadows and Sgt. Hann testified they saw him turn and raise the gun. Interpreting this as an “immediate” and “deadly” threat, both fired at Wilkins, striking him in the chest. Meadows testified that he shot only after Wilkins “took a deliberate step out of the [bath]room facing . . . straight towards us and was coming up with the gun . . . pointing towards us.” Hann confirmed that Wilkins in leaving the bathroom raised his gun “from a low waist position . . . toward his upper torso, which [Hann] interpreted as a firing platform.” “There is nothing [Wilkins] did that I could interpret