No. 16-4303 ___________________________

United States of America

lllllllllllllllllllll Plaintiff - Appellee

v.

Cahlan A. Clay

lllllllllllllllllllll Defendant - Appellant ____________

Appeal from United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri - Kansas City ____________

Submitted: November 17, 2017 Filed: March 5, 2018 [Published] ____________ Before COLLOTON and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges, and READE,1 District Judge. ____________

PER CURIAM.

1 The Honorable Linda R. Reade, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa, sitting by designation. A jury convicted Cahlan Clay of one count of unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1) and 924(a)(2). Clay appeals his conviction, arguing that the district court2 violated his Fifth and Sixth Amendment right to present testimony in his defense and his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him. We affirm.

I.

On September 23, 2012, Detective Anderson and Officer Thomas of the Kansas City, Missouri Police Department were working off-duty at a wedding reception in Kansas City. Around 2:45 a.m., Detective Anderson heard a “pop,” which he believed was a gunshot. This was followed by one or two more “pops,” which he knew were gunshots. The sounds originated from a large crowd gathered in a nearby parking lot. The crowd scattered, and Detective Anderson and Officer Thomas moved toward the parking lot.

Detective Anderson testified that, upon entering the parking lot, he saw Clay holding a handgun. Detective Anderson saw the muzzle flash of Clay’s handgun as Clay fired at him. Clay fled after Detective Anderson returned fire. Detective Anderson maintained focus on Clay and pursued him. While in pursuit, Detective Anderson fired multiple times at Clay. One of his shots hit Clay, who fell to the ground. As Detective Anderson approached, Clay surrendered his handgun by dropping it and said, “I’m done.” The entire incident lasted approximately thirty seconds to a minute.

The State of Missouri charged Clay with four felonies arising out of the incident. On April 21, 2015, Clay’s state court trial began in Jackson County,

2 The Honorable Roseann A. Ketchmark, United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.

-2- Missouri. Detective Anderson and Officer Thomas testified at the state trial. The trial ended in a mistrial after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.

On July 28, 2015, a federal grand jury charged Clay with one count of unlawful possession of a firearm as a previously convicted felon. On March 22, 2016, Clay’s first federal trial began. During the trial, Detective Anderson testified that he heard one “pop” followed by two more “pops” before he approached the parking lot and encountered Clay. During cross-examination, Officer Thomas testified that he never saw the face of the person holding the gun in the parking lot, but saw that the shooter was wearing a white t-shirt. Officer Thomas stated that his identification was based on Clay’s clothing.

During closing argument, defense counsel argued that the officers’ testimony was contradicted by the trial evidence in two ways. First, Detective Anderson testified that he had heard three gunshots prior to approaching the parking lot, where Clay fired a fourth shot. This testimony was contradicted by the fact