United States v. Candelario-Santana, No. 13-2139 (1st Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseAfter a joint jury trial, Alexis Candelario-Santana (Candelario) and David Oquendo-Rivas (Oquendo) (together, Defendants) were found guilty of numerous crimes stemming from a drug-related mass shooting carried out in furtherance of a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Both defendants received life sentences. The First Circuit affirmed Oquendo’s convictions but vacated and remanded as to Candelario, holding (1) the district court’s closure of the courtroom to facilitate a reluctant witness’s testimony constituted a constitutionally impermissible closure, effecting structural error; (2) there was no prejudicial error related to Oquendo’s case; and (3) the evidence was sufficient to support Oquendo’s convictions.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on September 19, 2016.
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