United States v. Juan Pablo Cedano-Arellano

332 F.3d 568, 2003 Daily Journal DAR 5663, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4405, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 10423, 2003 WL 21212163
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedMay 27, 2003
Docket02-50450
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 332 F.3d 568 (United States v. Juan Pablo Cedano-Arellano) 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. Juan Pablo Cedano-Arellano, 332 F.3d 568, 2003 Daily Journal DAR 5663, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4405, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 10423, 2003 WL 21212163 (9th Cir. 2003).

Opinion

*570 OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Defendant-Appellant Juan Pablo Ceda-no-Arellano was indicted on charges of smuggling cocaine into the United States after a search at the Mexican border revealed packages of cocaine in the gas tank of his truck. Cedano-Arellano entered a conditional guilty plea, preserving his right to appeal the following issues: whether the district court erroneously denied him discovery on the narcotics detector dog that “alerted” on his gas tank, whether there was probable cause to support his initial and subsequent arrests, whether there was reasonable suspicion to support the Customs agents’ search of his gas tank, whether the federal drug statutes are constitutional under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 120 S.Ct. 2348, 147 L.Ed.2d 435 (2000), and whether the grand jury that indicted him was instructed properly. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, and we affirm.

I. Discovery Issues

In a pretrial motion, defense counsel asked the district court to require discovery from the government about the narcotics dog that had alerted on Cedano-Arella-no’s gas tank. Counsel explained that he had retained an expert to review the dog’s performance and training records, and sought discovery under Fed.R.Crim.P. 16 and the Jencks Act of a broad range of materials pertaining to the dog, including his handler’s log, all training records and score sheets, certification records, and training standards and manuals. The district court declined to compel general discovery on the dog, ruling that the government’s obligations were as follows: (1) to establish the dog’s reliability, if it intended to rely on the dog to establish reasonable suspicion for the subsequent search of the gas tank; (2) if the government did intend to put on evidence about the dog, to disclose all Brady material suggesting that the dog was not reliable; and (3) under Rule 26.2, to disclose to the defense any prior statements that the officer testifying about the dog’s reliability had made. Otherwise, the district court concluded, if the requested material was not Brady material, the government had no obligation to disclose it.

The dog’s handler testified at a pretrial evidentiary hearing on March 18, 2002. The judge reviewed in camera the training logs maintained by the dog’s handler, and concluded that none of the information was Brady material or contradictory to the witness’s testimony. He held that the training logs were precluded from discovery by Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(2) and did not constitute a “statement” by the witness under the rule set forth in United States v. Carrasco, 537 F.2d 372 (9th Cir.1976). Accordingly, the judge denied defense counsel’s Jencks Act motion to disclose the training logs. The only evidence about the dog introduced at the hearing was the canine officer’s testimony, without any supporting documentation. At the close of testimony, the judge made several findings of fact and conclusions of law, including, inter alia, that the dog was a “reliable trained narcotics detector dog.”

On appeal, Cedano-Arellano challenges two discovery rulings by the district court: (1) its refusal to compel production of general discovery regarding the narcotics detector dog under Fed.R.Crim.P. 16, and (2) its refusal to compel production of the canine officer’s “statements” (i.e., the dog’s training log) under the Jencks Act and Fed.R.Crim.P. 26.2. We review the district court’s denial of discovery for an abuse of discretion, United States v. Guagliardo, 278 F.3d 868, 871 (9th Cir.2002) (per curiam), but we review de novo the district court’s interpretation of a discov *571 ery rule, United States v. Finley, 301 F.3d 1000, 1007 (9th Cir.2002).

A. Discovery of the dog’s qualifications

Rule 16 requires, inter alia, that the government disclose to the defendant any documents or objects that are material to preparing the defense, or that the government intends to use in its case-in-chief at trial. Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(1)(E). The government is also required to disclose the results of any scientific test or experiment if the results are within its possession, custody, or control, and if the attorney for the government knows or could know through due diligence that they exist, and the results are either material to preparing the defense or the government intends to use them in its case-in-chief at trial. Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(1)(F). However, Rule 16 specifically excludes the following from disclosure: “reports, mem-oranda, or other internal government documents made by an attorney for the government or other government agent in connection with investigating or prosecuting the case. Nor does this rule authorize the discovery or inspection of statements made by prospective government witnesses except as provided in 18 U.S.C. § 3500.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 16(a)(2). Ceda-no-Arellano argues that the materials at issue were crucial to his ability to assess the dog’s reliability, a very important issue in his defense, and to conduct an effective cross-examination of the dog’s handler. We agree. For example, the handler testified that the dog had been certified several times and had achieved a much-better-than-passing score on the certification tests. We can see no reason why the certification documents, the production of which had been requested and about which the handler testified, should not have been disclosed. Moreover, the dog’s training materials and records plainly do not fall within the scope of Rule 16(a)(2): they were not made in connection with investigating or prosecuting this or any other case, and most of them (with the possible exception of the training log) are not statements by prospective government witnesses. Cf. United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 462-63, 116 S.Ct. 1480, 134 L.Ed.2d 687 (1996) (characterizing Rule 16(a)(2) as precluding discovery of “government work product in connection with [the defendant’s] case”).

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332 F.3d 568, 2003 Daily Journal DAR 5663, 2003 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 4405, 2003 U.S. App. LEXIS 10423, 2003 WL 21212163, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-juan-pablo-cedano-arellano-ca9-2003.