Background
During four controlled purchases in January and February 2023, Thomas Emmanuel Williams sold a confidential informant ten firearms, three Glock machinegun-conversion switches, and controlled substances. The informant told Williams that he was an ex-convict who planned to resell the guns to New York drug dealers who could not legally buy them. He reinforced that cover story by discussing downstream buyers, staging a resale negotiation, and warning Williams to remove his fingerprints from the guns.
A jury convicted Williams on twelve firearm- and drug-related counts. The district court later granted Williams’s motion for judgment of acquittal as to Count Twelve but denied it as to the remaining counts. At sentencing, the court applied the five-level firearm-trafficking enhancement under the 2024 version of U.S.S.G. § 2K2.1(b)(5)(C)(i)(III) and imposed 204 months in prison. Williams appealed three sets of convictions and the enhancement.
The Court’s Holding
The Fourth Circuit affirmed in an unpublished per curiam opinion. It held that the government did not have to prove the informant actually would commit a felony with the firearms; it needed to show that Williams had reasonable cause to believe the informant’s use or disposition would be felonious. The informant’s repeated statements about illegal resale, together with Williams’s bulk discounts and precautions against police detection, permitted the jury to make that finding. The same evidence supported the trafficking enhancement because Williams sold more than two firearms while having reason to believe they would be used or disposed of unlawfully.
The court also held that sufficient evidence supported Williams’s machinegun-possession convictions. An ATF expert testified that the Glock switches were specifically designed to replace Glock back plates and convert semiautomatic pistols to fully automatic fire, allowing the jury to find that they fell within the statutory definition of a machinegun conversion part.
Finally, sufficient evidence supported the 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) conviction arising from the January 27 drug transaction. The firearms were not introduced accidentally during an unrelated drug sale: earlier gun transactions established the parties’ relationship, and Williams later sold guns and drugs together as a package. A rational jury therefore could find that the firearms attracted the informant to the transaction and facilitated the drug-trafficking crime.
Key Takeaways
- A confidential informant’s undisclosed government status does not defeat an offense requiring reasonable cause to believe that firearms will be used or disposed of unlawfully; the inquiry turns on the facts known to the defendant.
- Expert testimony about a Glock switch’s specialized fit and demonstrated conversion of a pistol to fully automatic fire can establish that the device is a machinegun conversion part.
- A firearm can satisfy Section 924(c)’s “in relation to” requirement when negotiated and sold with drugs as part of a planned package and when the firearm transaction helps attract the buyer to the drug sale.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that a sting operation need not culminate in an actual downstream felony when the charged firearm statutes focus on the seller’s knowledge or reasonable cause to believe. A jury may assess that belief from the informant’s cover story and the defendant’s conduct during the transactions.
The opinion also illustrates how courts evaluate conversion devices and combined gun-and-drug sales. Although unpublished and nonprecedential in the Fourth Circuit, it provides a practical application of the statutory machinegun definition, Section 924(c)’s facilitation requirement, and the Guidelines’ firearm-trafficking enhancement.