United States v. Foster, No. 17-50465 (5th Cir. 2018)
Annotate this CaseThe Fifth Circuit vacated defendant's conviction for transporting aliens for commercial advantage or private financial gain, and remanded for a new trial. The court held that the government's introduction of videotaped depositions of two material witnesses at trial violated defendant's rights under the Confrontation Clause because the government failed to demonstrate the witnesses were unavailable. The court held that the government's efforts to secure the presence of the witnesses did not meet the good faith standard. Furthermore, the error was harmful because the government could not demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the videotaped depositions of the material witnesses did not contribute to defendant's conviction.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on December 14, 2018.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on December 17, 2018.
The court issued a subsequent related opinion or order on February 15, 2019.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.