Justia U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Defendant, a citizen of Mexico, was indicted for illegally reentering the United States following prior removal, in violation of 8 U.S.C. Section 1326. He successfully moved to dismiss the indictment on the ground that Section 1326 violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fifth Amendment and is, therefore, facially invalid.   The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s order granting Defendant’s motion to dismiss. The court wrote that Defendant did not carry his burden of proving that Section 1326 was enacted with the intent to be discriminatory towards Mexicans and other Central and South Americans. The court held that the district court erred factually and legally in holding otherwise. Further, the court reasoned that Defendant’s equal protection challenge fails even under the usual test for assessing such claims set forth in Vill. of Arlington Heights v. Metro. Hous. Dev. Corp., 429 U.S. 252 (1977), the panel declined to address whether immigration laws should be evaluated through a more deferential framework. As drafted, Section 1326 is facially neutral as to race. The panel, therefore, turned to the question of whether Defendant carried his burden of showing that racial discrimination was a motivating factor in enacting Section 1326. The panel disagreed with Defendant’s argument that a Senate Report, the basis for the 1952 legislation, is replete with racism. The panel held that the district court clearly erred when it relied on Congress’s decision to override President Truman’s veto of the INA as evidence that Section 1326 was enacted in part by discriminatory animus. View "USA V. GUSTAVO CARRILLO-LOPEZ" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed his conviction for attempted illegal reentry after deportation in violation of 8 U.S.C. Section 1326. He contends that the district court erred in denying his motion to dismiss his information for violations of the Speedy Trial Act.   The Ninth Circuit affirmed. The court concluded that the district court did not clearly err in excluding periods of delay resulting from ends-of-justice continuances granted due to events caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic. The panel concluded that the district court complied with the applicable statutory requirements. First, the district court’s finding that the ends of justice were best served by granting continuances during the period from August 14, 2020, until December 1, 2020, was timely because the district court put this finding on the record during the July 12, 2021, hearing on Defendant’s motion to dismiss under 18 U.S.C. Section 3162(a)(2). The continuances were also specifically limited in time to successive 30-day periods. Next, the district court made the requisite findings under Section 3161(h)(7)(A). The panel rejected Defendant’s argument that the district court erred by not dismissing his information on the ground that 8 U.S.C. Section 1326 violates the Equal Protection Clause. View "USA V. ARMANDO OROZCO-BARRON" on Justia Law

In this case, multiple defendants alleged that one Assistant U.S. Attorney engaged in potential professional misconduct. Rather than screening out the accused Assistant U.S. Attorney, the district court disqualified all 180 federal prosecutors from the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office from defending against the misconduct allegations. The district court then ordered the Department of Justice to supply an attorney from outside Arizona to litigate Defendants’ motions.   The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s order disqualifying the entire District of Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office and directing the Department of Justice to supply an attorney from outside Arizona to represent the government in pending motions. The panel held that the district court’s sweeping disqualification order was an abuse of discretion. The panel wrote that based on separation-of-powers principles and the consensus among courts, disqualification of an entire U.S. Attorney’s Office is an extreme remedy—only appropriate in the most extraordinary circumstances. e panel held that the record does not support an officewide disqualification, and without any evidence of officewide involvement, it was pure speculation to conclude that any conflict or misconduct pervaded the entire U.S. Attorney’s Office. The panel also held that no clear violation of law or ethics supports an officewide disqualification. The panel wrote that the district court—whose decision to disqualify was informed, in part, by a comparison to an internal investigation of a private company—does not appear to have sufficiently appreciated the separation-of-powers concern. View "USA V. DAVID WILLIAMS, ET AL" on Justia Law

Appellant (the “Warden”) conceded that the Ninth Circuit Court could no longer provide meaningful relief to Petitioner after the state court’s complete vacatur of his original conviction. Although the Warden continued to contest mootness, he did so only on the ground that the district court’s alleged legal error was capable of repetition yet evading review.   The Ninth Circuit dismissed as moot an appeal by the Warden and remanded with instructions that the district court vacates its orders granting habeas relief and dismiss Petitioner’s habeas corpus petition. The panel was not persuaded by this argument as the purported error could be presented on appeal following a district court's rejection of a similar argument by another petitioner or after a grant of habeas relief by a district court that was stayed by the district court or by this court, or after a grant of relief that was challenged by the Warden in that case with sufficient promptness to permit the Ninth Circuit’s effective review before release was required under the terms of the district court's order, or under other circumstances. View "MARIO ARCIGA V. SCOTT FRAUENHEIM" on Justia Law

Defendant was convicted in 1997 of felony assault with a deadly weapon committed while he was a juvenile. In 2016 and 2017, he pleaded guilty to two aggravated DUIs, which were felonies committed in 2003 while he was an adult. Relying on the Supreme Court's post-conviction decision in Rehaif v. United States, Defendant argued on appeal that his 2018 convictions should be overturned due to the district court's failure to instruct the jury that the government must prove that he belonged to the relevant category of persons barred from possessing a firearm.   The Ninth Circuit amended a February 15, 2023, opinion affirming Defendant’s 2018 convictions for unlawful possession of a firearm, denied a petition for panel rehearing, and denied on behalf of the court a petition for rehearing en banc. It was undisputed that the district court’s failure to instruct on the Rehaif knowledge element was error and that the error was plain. The panel held, however, that Defendant cannot show that this error affected his substantial rights. In so holding, the panel did not need to reach whether being convicted as a juvenile or having been incarcerated for more than a year as a result of a juvenile conviction satisfies the Rehaif mens rea requirement. The panel held that Defendant’s two DUI convictions unambiguously demonstrate that there is no reasonable probability that a jury would find that Defendant did not know he had been convicted of a crime punishable by a year or more in prison at the time he possessed the firearm. View "USA V. RYAN MICHELL" on Justia Law

Defendant appealed from his jury conviction and sentence for one count of conspiracy to transport, for profit, noncitizens who have entered or remain in the United States unlawfully, four counts of harboring such noncitizens for profit, and three counts of transportation of such noncitizens for profit, all in violation of 8 U.S.C. Section 1324. Defendant argued that his statements were involuntary because, just prior to the interrogation, an agent had shown him a plastic baggie containing drugs and threatened him with drug charges if he did not cooperate. After holding an evidentiary hearing, a magistrate judge issued a report recommending that the district court denied the motion to suppress.   The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s denial of Defendant’s motion to suppress his post-arrest statements. The panel held that the district court did not abuse its discretion by wholly adopting the magistrate judge’s report and recommendation. The panel wrote that the district court did what the Federal Magistrates Act requires: it indicated that it reviewed the record de novo, found no merit to Defendant’s objections, and summarily adopted the magistrate judge’s analysis in his report and recommendation.   The panel wrote that, after observing the implausibility of Defendant’s testimony and considering Defendant’s verbal and signed Miranda waiver, age, education level, and fluency in English, the magistrate judge properly recommended finding the statements made during the interrogation voluntary. Moreover, the panel could not hold that the magistrate judge was wrong to reject Defendant’s testimony, as the report and recommendation provided ample reason to find Defendant not credible, and the rest of the record supports the magistrate judge’s analysis. View "USA V. DEMETRIUS RAMOS" on Justia Law

Petitioner sought resentencing under Section 1172.6 the day after California enacted that statute. While his resentencing proceeding was ongoing, and shortly before the expiration of the deadline for Petitioner to file for relief pursuant to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), Petitioner filed a federal habeas petition. Among other things, his petition alleged that several forms of prosecutorial misconduct had occurred in his trial. A magistrate judge denied Petitioner’s unopposed motion to stay his federal proceedings and recommended that the district court dismiss Petitioner’s habeas petition without prejudice pursuant to Younger. The district court accepted the magistrate judge’s recommendation that Younger abstention was warranted and required dismissal.   The Ninth Circuit reversed the district court’s dismissal of Petitioner’s federal habeas corpus petition, reversed the district court’s denial of his motion to stay, and remanded. The panel explained that Younger is not implicated here. Although there is an ongoing state proceeding—the resentencing under Section 1172.6 based on a change in state law—the federal petition, in this case, does not seek an injunction to prevent state officers from moving forward with the Section 1172.6 proceeding. That proceeding is, in substance, a new case based on a new statute, and Petitioner seeks no relief that would interfere with it. The panel held that the denial of Petitioner’s motion for a stay was also error because it was based on the misunderstanding that the district court lacked the authority to stay Petitioner’s habeas petition. View "JONATHAN DUKE V. JOSIE GASTELO" on Justia Law

Peru sought to extradite former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo Manrique (“Toledo”) to face criminal charges for allegedly accepting millions of dollars in bribes during his presidency. Peruvian prosecutors accused Toledo of money laundering and collusion in two Prosecutor’s Decisions, documents that summarize the ongoing investigation, and in an Acusación Fiscal, a document produced at the end of an investigation that lays out the crimes allegedly committed and supporting evidence. The Peruvian government presented initial and supplemental extradition requests to the United States, and following the usual procedures for extradition, a federal prosecutor filed a criminal complaint against Toledo. A United States magistrate judge certified the extradition to the State Department. Toledo petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus petition, which the district court denied, and Toledo appealed.   The Ninth Circuit denied Petitioner’s motion to stay his extradition proceeding. The panel weighed the four factors that guide consideration of whether to issue a stay. First, irreparable injury is obvious. Once extradited, Toledo’s appeal will be moot. Second, Toledo has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits on any of his three arguments. The panel wrote that the third and fourth factors— whether the issuance of a stay would substantially injure the other parties and the public interest—merge when the Government is the opposing party. The panel reaffirmed that the public interest will be served by the United States complying with a valid extradition application because proper compliance promotes relations between the two countries and enhances efforts to establish an international rule of law and order. View "ALEJANDRO MANRIQUE V. MARK KOLC" on Justia Law

Petitioner was convicted under Wash. Rev. Code Section 9A.56.190 and served a fifteen-month prison sentence. The BIA concluded that he was removable for having committed an aggravated felony under 8 U.S.C. Section 1101(a)(43)(G), which describes “a theft offense (including receipt of stolen property) or burglary offense for which the term of imprisonment is at least one year.”   The Ninth Circuit denied Petitioner’s petition for review of the BIA’s decision that he was removable for having been convicted of an aggravated felony theft offense under 8 U.S.C. Section 1101(a)(43)(G). A plurality of the court concluded that it was necessary to consider Washington's accomplice liability in conducting the categorical analysis of Washington robbery. The plurality explained that, in Valdivia-Flores, the court relied on Gonzales v. Duenas-Alvarez, 549 U.S. 183 (2007), in which the Supreme Court concluded that generic theft encompasses aiding and abetting. Because Petitioner’s conviction did not establish that he acted as a principal, the plurality concluded that it must consider the possibility he acted as an accomplice. Having held that second-degree robbery under Wash. Rev. Code Section  9A.56.190 is a categorical match with generic theft, the en banc court concluded that Petitioner had been convicted of an aggravated felony and denied his petition for review. View "MCKENZY ALFRED V. MERRICK GARLAND" on Justia Law

Petitioner was born in the former Soviet Union in what is now Armenia. He entered the United States with his family in 1992 at age seven, becoming a lawful permanent resident in 1994. Petitioner and several others were charged in a 20-count indictment in district court and the Department of Homeland Security sought Petitioner’s removal. An Immigration Judge (IJ) found that Petitioner’s conspiracy conviction rendered him removable and that he was not entitled to relief from removal. The IJ thus ordered that Petitioner be removed to Armenia. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissed Petitioner’s appeal.   The Ninth Circuit dismissed in part and denied in part Petitioner’s petition for review. The panel held that: (1) in evaluating whether the government has satisfied the “exceed[ing] $10,000” requirement, the relevant loss amount for a conspiracy conviction is the loss associated with the conspiracy; and (2) the agreed-upon sentencing enhancement in Petitioner’s plea agreement was sufficient to prove that his offense of conviction involved more than $10,000 in losses. The panel held that under Section 1101(a)(43)(M)(i), the loss tied to a conspiracy conviction is the loss associated with the scheme that forms the basis for the conviction. The panel explained that when an alien has been convicted of a conspiracy to commit a qualifying crime of “fraud or deceit,” the government need not ascribe to the alien coconspirator some individual portion of the overall conspiracy-related loss to demonstrate that the loss threshold has been satisfied. The panel also concluded that the government had met its burden of proving that the conspiracy to which Petitioner pleaded guilty involved more than $10,000 in losses. View "ARMAN KHALULYAN V. MERRICK GARLAND" on Justia Law