United States v. Juan Manuel Rivera-Soto

451 F. App'x 806
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedOctober 31, 2011
Docket11-11220
StatusUnpublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 451 F. App'x 806 (United States v. Juan Manuel Rivera-Soto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Eleventh 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. Juan Manuel Rivera-Soto, 451 F. App'x 806 (11th Cir. 2011).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

Juan Manuel Rivera-Soto appeals his conviction for illegal reentry by an alien previously convicted of a felony in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326(b)(1). Rivera-Soto urges this court to set aside his conviction for the following reasons. First, he argues that his immigration records were improperly admitted under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. Second, he contends that the introduction of his immigration records into evidence violated the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment. Finally, he asserts that the government failed to prove two essential elements of the offense — namely, that at the relevant time, he was an alien and that he did not receive the Attorney General’s consent to reapply for admission into the United States.

I. Hearsay Exception

“We review evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion.” United States v. Caraballo, 595 F.3d 1214, 1226 (11th Cir.2010). Hearsay is defined as “a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” Fed.R.Evid. 801(c). Under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(6), business records are not excluded as hearsay if they are kept in the course of a regularly conducted business activity, and if it was the regular practice of the business activity to make the records, “all as shown by the testimony of the custodian or other qualified witness, or by certification that complies with Rule 902(11), Rule 902(12), or a statute permitting certification.” Id. 803(6).

Under Federal Rule of Evidence 803(8), documents are generally not excluded as hearsay if they are records, reports, statements, or data compilations, in any form, of public agencies, which set forth the activities of the agency or matters observed pursuant to a legal duty to report, unless circumstances indicate a lack of trustworthiness. Id. 803(8)(A), (B). Public records may be authenticated by showing that they are “from the public office where items of [that] nature are kept.” Id. 901(b)(7).

Rivera-Soto argues that the district court erred in admitting his immigration records under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. This contention is unavailing because the district court also admitted the immigration records under the public records exception. The district court did not abuse its discretion in so doing. We have previously held that “routinely and mechanically kept” immigration records, such as deportation warrants, are admissible as public records. United States v. Agustino-Hernandez, 14 F.3d 42, 43 (11th Cir.1994); see also Caraballo, 595 F.3d at 1226.

Rivera-Soto has not otherwise argued that the records in this case are so untrustworthy that the jury should not have been allowed to consider them. See generally Fed.R.Evid. 803(8) (providing that public records may be excluded if “circumstances indicate [a] lack of trustworthiness”). Nor has he asserted that the *808 government failed to provide sufficient evidence to authenticate the records as those of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). See generally id. 901(b)(7) (providing that public records may be authenticated by showing that the records are “from the public office where items of [that] nature are kept”). Under these circumstances, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in admitting the immigration records into evidence under the public records exception to the hearsay rule.

II. Confrontation Clause

“[W]e review ‘de novo the question of whether hearsay statements are ‘testimonial’ for purposes of the Confrontation Clause.’ ” Caraballo, 595 F.3d at 1226 (quoting United States v. Lamons, 532 F.3d 1251, 1261 n. 15 (11th Cir.2008)). “[T]he Confrontation Clause bars the admission of the testimonial statements of a witness who did not appear at trial unless the witness was unavailable and the defendant had a prior opportunity to cross-examine him or her.” Id. at 1227 (citing Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36, 53-54, 124 S.Ct. 1354, 158 L.Ed.2d 177 (2004)). Statements “are testimonial when the circumstances objectively indicate that ... the primary purpose of the [statement] is to establish or prove past events potentially relevant to later criminal prosecution.” Id. (quoting Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813, 822, 126 S.Ct. 2266, 165 L.Ed.2d 224 (2006)).

In United States v. Cantellano, 430 F.3d 1142 (11th Cir.2005), we held that a deportation warrant is non-testimonial and not subject to confrontation because it is “recorded routinely and not in preparation for a criminal trial.” Id. at 1145. We noted that a deportation warrant simply “records facts about where, when, and how a deportee left the country.” Id. In Caraballo, we similarly held that an alien file’s I-213 form, which “is primarily used ... for the purpose of tracking the entry of aliens into the United States,” is non-testimonial. 595 F.3d at 1229. We observed that an I-213 form contains “routine biographical information that is required of every foreign entrant for the proper administration of our immigration laws and policies.” Id.

As Rivera-Soto acknowledges, these precedents foreclose his argument that in this case, the admission of the immigration records into evidence violated the Confrontation Clause. A deportation warrant is non-testimonial. Cantellano, 430 F.3d at 1145. And while we have not previously considered whether an I-867 form is testimonial, our reasoning in Caraballo brings us to the conclusion that it is also non-testimonial. Like an I-213 form, the 1-867 form that records the sworn statement of an alien prior to removal contains “routine biographical information” obtained primarily “for the proper administration of our immigration laws and policies.” Caraballo, 595 F.3d at 1229. The immigration records in this case are thus non-testimonial and do not implicate the Confrontation Clause. 1

III. Sufficiency of the Evidence

“We review whether the record contains sufficient evidence to support a jury’s verdict de novo.” United States v.

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Bluebook (online)
451 F. App'x 806, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-juan-manuel-rivera-soto-ca11-2011.