United States v. Ramos-Atondo, No. 12-50208 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseDefendants appealed their convictions for conspiring to import marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. 963 and importation of marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. 952 and 960. The court concluded that the district court's decision to give a deliberate ignorance instruction to the jury was not "illogical, implausible, or without support in inference that may be drawn from facts in the record." The court also concluded that the district court correctly denied Defendant Ramos's Rule 29 motion where a rational jury could believe Ramiro Gallegos's testimony, concluded that it was consonant with that of the border patrol agents, and concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Ramos knew, or was deliberately ignorant of, the objective of importing marijuana. Further, the district court did not err in admitting evidence of Defendant Ramos-Atondo's prior smuggling crime where the probative value of the evidence outweighed any prejudice.
Court Description: Criminal Law. The panel affirmed four defendants’ convictions for conspiracy to import marijuana and importation of marijuana. The panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by instructing the jury on a theory of deliberate ignorance in the context of a conspiracy, and that the theory of deliberate ignorance, which may be an alternative argument to actual knowledge, need not be exclusive. The panel rejected defendant Ramos’s contention that there was insufficient evidence to support his conviction. The panel concluded that the district court did not abuse its discretion by admitting defendant Ramos-Atondo’s prior alien smuggling conviction under Fed. R. Evid. 404(b) and not excluding it under Fed. R. Evid. 403.
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