United States v. Aguilera-Meza

329 F. App'x 825
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedMay 26, 2009
Docket08-4102
StatusUnpublished

This text of 329 F. App'x 825 (United States v. Aguilera-Meza) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth 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. Aguilera-Meza, 329 F. App'x 825 (10th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

ORDER AND JUDGMENT *

MARY BECK BRISCOE, Circuit Judge.

A jury convicted Eusebio Aguilera-Meza on two counts of conspiring to commit money laundering, one count of conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business, two counts of failing to file a Currency Transaction Report, and one count of illegal reentry. The district court sentenced Aguilera-Meza to 276 months’ imprisonment and 36 months’ supervised release. Aguilera-Meza appeals his convictions and sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and affirm.

I

With others, Aguilera-Meza operated Envíos Aguilera, a business that conducted wire transfers of money between the United States and Mexico. At times, the business operated without the necessary licensing. Through this business, Aguilera-Meza transmitted from the United States to Mexico funds from illegal drug transactions.

Based on these actions, a grand jury indicted Aguilera-Meza and several co-defendants on eleven counts. Specifically, the grand jury charged that Aguilera-Meza: (1) conspired under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) to commit money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A), (B) (“Count 1”); (2) operated an unlicensed money transmitting business under 18 U.S.C. § 1960 (“Count 3”); (3) conspired under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) to commit money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(3)(B) (“Count 5”); (4) failed to file a required report on a currency transaction on August 3, 2005 under 31 U.S.C. § 5313 *827 (“Count 6”); (5) failed to file a required report on a currency transaction on September 1, 2005 under 81 U.S.C. § 5813 (“Count 7”); and (6) reentered the United States after being removed in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) (“Count 9”).

Discovery on these charges was extensive, including several recorded conversations, transcripts, and business records. By September 20, 2006, when Aguilera-Meza’s trial counsel was added for his defense, discovery filled boxes and was available through a searchable computer database. Counsel began receiving and reviewing this discovery by November of 2006.

On November 13, 2006, Aguilera-Meza filed a motion to continue his trial, then set for February 5, 2007. The court granted this motion, continuing the trial to June 25, 2007. On April 26, 2007, Aguilera-Meza filed his second motion to continue trial based on the amount of discovery to review, noting “defense counsel has not had adequate time to review all discovery re-ceived_” R. Vol. I, Doc. 265 at 1. The district court granted the second motion, continuing trial to November 27, 2007. On October 2, 2007, Aguilera-Meza filed his third motion to continue trial. After hearing arguments from counsel, the district court denied this motion and directed the parties to exchange exhibits by November 7, 2007. On November 15, 2007, Aguilera-Meza filed his fourth motion to continue trial, stating that “he and his counsel are not adequately prepared for trial in this matter, can not become adequately prepared for trial by the time of trial date, and that, if [Aguilera-Meza] is forced to go to trial at this time under these circumstances, he will be denied effective assistance of counsel.” R. Vol. I, Doc. 312 at 1. Aguilera-Meza acknowledged receiving a list of “specific proposed exhibits ... on November 12, 2007,” and being informed of the identity of the confidential informant the week before. Id. at 2-3. After again hearing arguments from counsel, the district court denied the motion to continue trial. On November 21 and 27, 2007, Aguilera-Meza filed additional motions to continue trial, citing concerns over the status of translations of recorded conversations and the difficulty for defense counsel to meet with Aguilera-Meza, who was in custody. The court denied these requests.

Aguilera-Meza also filed several pretrial discovery motions, including a request for a hearing under Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharms., Inc., 509 U.S. 579, 113 S.Ct. 2786, 125 L.Ed.2d 469 (1993), a request for disclosure of the identity of cooperating witnesses, and a motion in limine that also requested a hearing under United States v. James, 590 F.2d 575 (5th Cir.1979). The district court denied the requests for the Daubert and James hearings. The government disclosed the identity of the confidential informant in early November 2007. On November 21, 2007, the prosecution filed its proposed witness list, which included the confidential informant.

The district court conducted Aguilera-Meza’s trial from November 28, 2007 to December 7, 2007. The government presented testimony from fifteen witnesses during its case-in-chief. Among these witnesses, and relevant to the present appeal, were Roberto Cortez, Judy Romero, Leticia Valesquez, Michael Minichino, and Michael Hamideh. Jeff Fletcher, a Special Agent with the IRS, also testified and discussed an exhibit summarizing Aguil-era-Meza’s numerous transactions. All of these witnesses were listed on the government’s witness list. Transcripts and translations of recorded conversations involving Aguilera-Meza were presented to the jury. Aguilera-Meza testified in his defense. The jury convicted Aguilera-Meza on all six counts. The district court *828 sentenced Aguilera-Meza to 276 months’ imprisonment and 36 months’ supervised release.

Aguilera-Meza now appeals, raising three primary arguments. First, Aguil-era-Meza challenges the sufficiency of the evidence for his money laundering convictions. Second, Aguilera-Meza argues that his inability to properly cross-examine certain testimony violated his Sixth Amendment rights. Third, Aguilera-Meza argues that his sentence is disproportionate to the crimes for which he was convicted, violating his Eighth Amendment rights.

II

I. The Money Laundering Conspiracy Convictions

On Count 1, the jury convicted Aguilera-Meza under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(h) of conspiring to commit money laundering under 18 U.S.C. § 1956(a)(2)(A), (B). On Count 5, the jury convicted Aguilera-Meza under 18 U.S.C. § 1956

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Bluebook (online)
329 F. App'x 825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-aguilera-meza-ca10-2009.