United States v. Diaz-Rivera
United States v. Diaz-Rivera
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Armando Diaz-Rivera (“Diaz-Rivera”) was convicted of being an illegal alien “found in” the United States following deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a). At trial, Diaz-Rivera based his entire defense on the involuntariness of his entry. The district court properly determined the voluntariness of entry to be irrelevant and excluded testimony related to that defense.
“A district court’s evidentiary rulings during trial are reviewed for abuse of discretion.” United States v. Hankey, 203 F.3d 1160, 1166 (9th Cir. 2000) (citing Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172, 174 n. 1, 117 S.Ct. 644, 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997)); United States v. Ramirez, 176 F.3d 1179, 1182 (9th Cir. 1999). “Evidentiary rulings will be reversed for abuse of discretion only if such nonconstitutional error more likely than not affected the verdict.” Id. at 1167 (quoting Ramirez, 176 F.3d at 1182).
Diaz-Rivera argues that had the court allowed him to testify, he would have “explained away” the voluntariness of his continued presence in the United States. Unlike the proffered testimony related to the voluntariness of his entry, however, Diaz-
The lack of details supporting Diaz-Rivera’s claim, the hospital records, and the length of his stay in the United States suggest that the outcome of the trial was unaffected by the court’s evidentiary rulings. Therefore, the district court did not abuse its discretion in sustaining the prosecution’s objections as to the relevance of the testimony.
AFFIRMED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
. Although originally a basis for appeal, the petitioner now concedes that the voluntariness of his reentry was not an element of being "found in” the United States following deportation. See United States v. Pina-Jaime, 332 F.3d 609, 612 (9th Cir. 2003) ("Today, we make clear that an alien does not have to enter the United States illegally to violate the ‘found in' clause of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a)(2).”); United States v. Quintana-Torres, 235 F.3d 1197, 1200 (9th Cir. 2000) ("[V]oluntarily remaining in the country after an involuntary entry satisfies [§ 1326].”).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.