United States v. Abimael Roblero-Solis

CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 2, 2009
Docket08-10396
StatusPublished

This text of United States v. Abimael Roblero-Solis (United States v. Abimael Roblero-Solis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Abimael Roblero-Solis, (9th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, No. 08-10396 v.  D.C. No. ABIMAEL ROBLERO-SOLIS, 4:08-cr-00271-CKJ Defendant-Appellant. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, No. 08-10397 v.  D.C. No. JANET ROBLERO-PEREZ, 4:08-cr-00272-CKJ Defendant-Appellant. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, No. 08-10466 v.  D.C. No. JORGE ROSALES-VARGAS, 4:08-cr-00270-DCB Defendant-Appellant. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, No. 08-10509 v.  D.C. No. MIGUEL ZARAZUA-PICHARDO, 4:08-cr-00306-RCC Defendant-Appellant. 

15697 15698 UNITED STATES v. ROBLERO-SOLIS

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  Plaintiff-Appellee, No. 08-10512 v.  D.C. No. JOSE VAZQUEZ-MORALES, 4:08-cr-00312-RCC Defendant-Appellant. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 08-10543 Plaintiff-Appellant, D.C. No. v.  4:08-CR-00311- GUMERCINDO MARTINEZ-CARRIZOSA, FRZ-1 Defendant-Appellee.  OPINION

Appeals from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Cindy K. Jorgenson, District Judge, Presiding David C. Bury, District Judge, Presiding Raner C. Collins, District Judge, Presiding Frank R. Zapata, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted November 2, 2009—San Francisco, California

Filed December 2, 2009

Before: John T. Noonan and William A. Fletcher, Circuit Judges, and Thomas Duffy,* District Judge.

Opinion by Judge Noonan

*The Honorable Kevin Thomas Duffy, United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, sitting by designation. 15700 UNITED STATES v. ROBLERO-SOLIS

COUNSEL

Jason Hannan, Assistant Federal Public Defender, Tucson, Arizona, for the defendants-appellants-appellees.

Robert L. Miskell, Assistant United States Attorney, Tucson, Arizona, for the plaintiff-appellee-appellant. UNITED STATES v. ROBLERO-SOLIS 15701 OPINION

NOONAN, Circuit Judge:

To accommodate the enormous number of prosecutions for illegal entry into the United States, the district court for the District of Arizona (Tucson) has adopted a procedure for the taking of pleas en masse intended to preserve the rudiments of Fed. R. Crim. P. 11 and the constitution. We were informed by the government in this case that one magistrate judge is assigned each week full time to the handling of these cases and that in twelve months’ time the court has handled 25,000. The procedure has been in practice for at least two years and is apparently followed in several other federal courts whose districts border on Mexico.

The problem generated by the massive caseload on the court understandably led the court to adopt a shortcut. Abstractly considered, the shortcut is not only understandable but reasonable. The shortcut, however, does not comply with Rule 11. We cannot permit this rule to be disregarded in the name of efficiency nor to be violated because it is too demanding for a district court to observe. We act within a sys- tem maintained by the rules of procedure. We cannot dispense with the rules without setting a precedent subversive of the structure. Accordingly, on this challenge by an intrepid fed- eral public defender to the Tucson court’s taking of pleas en masse, we hold the procedure to be contrary to Rule 11. We then assess the harm to the substantial rights of the six defen- dants before us on this appeal.

FACTS

Abimael Roblero-Solis (Roblero-S.), age about 19, a citizen of Mexico, was apprehended by the United States Border Patrol on March 3, 2008 inside of the United States without documents authorizing his entry into the United States. 15702 UNITED STATES v. ROBLERO-SOLIS Janet Roblero-Perez (Roblero-P.), age about 19, is another citizen of Mexico, apprehended on March 3, 2008 by the Bor- der Patrol inside of the United States without documents.

Jose Vasquez-Morales (Vasquez), about 26, is a citizen of Mexico, also arrested on March 3, 2008 by the Border Patrol inside of the United States without documents.

Gumercindo Martinez-Carrizosa (Martinez), age about 26, is another Mexican citizen without documents, arrested by the Border Patrol on March 3, 2008 inside of the United States.

Jorge Rosales-Vargas (Rosales), age about 24, is another citizen of Mexico, apprehended without documents by the Border Patrol inside of the United States, March 3, 2008.

Miguel Zarazua-Pichardo (Zarazua), age about 29, is a citi- zen of Mexico, also apprehended by the Border Patrol on March 3, 2008 inside of the United States without documenta- tion.

PROCEEDINGS

March 5, 2008. Roblero-P, Robero-S, Martinez and Vasquez appeared before Magistrate Judge Jennifer Guerin. They were represented by Jason Hannan, Assistant Federal Public Defender. Forty-three other defendants facing a similar charge were present and had guilty pleas accepted. The pro- ceedings in which they were participants are conveniently set out by Tucson District Judge David G. Bury in one of the decisions here on appeal:

The Arizona Denial Prosecution Initiative (ADPI, a.k.a. Operation Streamline) is used by the United States Border Patrol to bring 50 to 100 people per day before a United States Magistrate Judge for an initial appearance to explain the charges against them and their rights, accept any guilty pleas, and UNITED STATES v. ROBLERO-SOLIS 15703 sentence them. The proceedings before the Magis- trate Judge pertain to petty misdemeanor violations under 8 U.S.C. § 1325 for entering the country ille- gally and are conducted en masse, except for indi- vidually taking role and the actual guilty pleas.

The court asked defense counsel if all of their clients “wish to plead guilty this afternoon,” and the record reflects “gen- eral ‘yes’ answers.” The court then asked if there was “any objection to conducting these proceedings as a group.” Han- nan stated:

Your Honor, I would ask that the court determine that each of them has understood their rights, the fac- tual basis has been inquired of each of them individ- ually, and that each of them has an opportunity to speak, to be addressed by the court personally and to allocute to the court with defense counsel.

THE COURT: So you have no objection to the group advisement is what I understand?

HANNAN: Correct, as long as the court would inquire as to each individually if they understood their rights and the waiver (unintelligible).

THE COURT: Thank you.

The court advised defendants collectively of the procedure which it intended to use to take the pleas as a group:

THE COURT: I’m going to be advising you and informing you of your rights. If at any time you don’t understand what I’m saying or if you cannot hear me or hear the interpreter, I ask that you stand and that will give us the opportunity to make sure that the hearing apparatus is working correctly and also to clarify any questions that you might have. If 15704 UNITED STATES v. ROBLERO-SOLIS I direct a question to you as a group, then I ask that each one of you answers that question out loud loudly so that I can see and hear your response. If I cannot hear a response, then I will not be able to accept your guilty plea. Does everyone understand these directions?

The record reports a “General ‘yes’ response.”

The court then advised the group of their rights to remain silent and to be represented by an attorney and noted that each defendant had an opportunity to meet with his attorney in the morning. The court then asked anyone who did not know the charges against him to stand. The court noted for the record that “no one is standing.”

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