United States v. Ayala-Vazquez, No. 12-1540 (1st Cir. 2014)
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Brothers Angel Ayala-Vazquez (“Alaya”) and Luis Cruz-Vazquez (“Cruz”) (collectively, “Appellants”) were arrested and indicted following a federal investigation into a wide-ranging drug trafficking organization (“DTO”) based out of two housing projects in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. Unlike dozens of other defendants who entered guilty pleas, Appellants stood trial together. Appellants were both convicted of multiple criminal charges related to their involvement in the DTO, and each Appellant was sentenced to life imprisonment. The First Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the convictions and Cruz’s life sentence, holding (1) the evidence introduced at trial was sufficient to support the jury verdicts; (2) the trial judge’s comments at trial did not deprive Appellants of a fair trial; and (3) the district judge did not abuse his discretion in sentencing Cruz to life imprisonment, and Cruz failed to overcome the sentence’s presumption of reasonableness.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on May 2, 2014.
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