United States v. Cabrera-Beltran, No. 10-4084 (4th Cir. 2011)
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted by a jury of conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and heroine. On appeal, defendant challenged his convictions and sentence on multiple grounds. The court held that the for-cause striking of prospective jurors based on their perceived inability to accept an interpreter as the final arbiter of what was said or written did not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment; the district court's decision to strike the prospective jurors was not a manifest abuse of discretion and did not contravene the Sixth Amendment; Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS) records were admissible under the public records exception to hearsay; defendant's challenge to his conviction under an indictment that charged him with conspiracy to import and distribute "1 kilogram or more" of heroin and "5 kilograms or more" of cocaine failed because the lesser included offense was included in the charged offense and there was no variance; because defendant failed to provide a showing of good cause, his claim that the indictment was defective was waived; the court could not conclude that the district court judge committed plain error in giving the modified Allen charge after receiving two jury notes expressing an inability to reach a verdict; nor could the court conclude that the district court plainly erred by not, sua sponte, ordering a mistrial after approximately two days of jury deliberations; substantial evidence supported the verdict and the district court did not err in denying the motion for acquittal; the district court acted within its discretion in admitting testimony of a certain witness; and the district court did not commit clear error in finding, based on a preponderance of the evidence, that defendant was a manager or supervisor in the conspiracy; and the district court did not err in finding that five participants were involved pursuant to U.S.S.G. 3B.1(b). Accordingly, the convictions and sentence were affirmed.
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