United States v. Rangel-Guzman, No. 13-50059 (9th Cir. 2014)
Annotate this CaseDefendant appealed his conviction and sentence for importation of marijuana. The court rejected defendant's contention that the prosecutor improperly vouched and violated the advocate-witness rule where defendant failed to demonstrate that the prosecutorial error in this case affected his substantial rights. The court concluded, however, that the district court did not adequately explain why it declined to apply the two-level sentence reduction under U.S.S.G. 2D1.1(b)(16). Accordingly, the court affirmed the conviction, vacated the sentence, and remanded for resentencing.
Court Description: Criminal Law. The panel affirmed a conviction for importation of marijuana, vacated the sentence, and remanded for resentencing in a case in which the prosecutor’s invocation of her own personal knowledge during cross-examination was, as the government concedes, improper. Reviewing for plain error, the panel held that the defendant failed to demonstrate that the prosecutorial error affected his substantial rights. The panel held that the district court didn’t adequately explain why it declined to apply a two-level sentence reduction pursuant to U.S.S.G. § 2D1.1(b)(16).
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