United States v. Sierra-Ledesma, No. 10-3066 (10th Cir. 2011)

In 2009, when Dodge City police officers pulled Defendant Eusebio Sierra-Ledesma over for speeding, they found that Defendant had been deported in 2008 with no new authority to reenter or remain in the U.S. A jury convicted Defendant of having been found in the U.S. illegally. Defendant appealed to the Tenth Circuit, arguing multiple errors at trial. The sum of Defendant's argument was that the government failed to prove its case against him. Upon review of the trial record and the applicable legal authority, the Tenth Circuit was "satisfied" that any error committed at trial was harmless. The Court found that the trial court instructed the jury multiple times throughout that Defendant was innocent until the government proved he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Furthermore, the record reflected substantial evidence to support the jury's verdict. Accordingly, the Court affirmed the jury's verdict.