United States v. Lopez-Avila

666 F.3d 622, 2012 WL 89270, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 624
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 12, 2012
Docket11-10013
StatusPublished

This text of 666 F.3d 622 (United States v. Lopez-Avila) 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. Lopez-Avila, 666 F.3d 622, 2012 WL 89270, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 624 (9th Cir. 2012).

Opinion

666 F.3d 622 (2012)

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Aurora LOPEZ-AVILA, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 11-10013.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Argued and Submitted November 14, 2011.
Filed January 12, 2012.

*623 Robert L. Miskell, Office of the United States Attorney, Tucson, AZ, for plaintiff-appellee.

Mark F. Williman, Tucson, AZ, for the defendant-appellant.

Before: JOHN T. NOONAN and CARLOS T. BEA, Circuit Judges, and DONALD E. WALTER, Senior District Judge.[*]

OPINION

BEA, Circuit Judge:

On the second day of trial in this drug trafficking prosecution, during the cross-examination of Defendant-Appellant Aurora Lopez-Avila, the prosecutor read back supposed testimony of Lopez-Avila from her earlier change of plea hearing. What he read back seemed to contradict Lopez-Avila's earlier statements on direct examination. Using this supposed prior testimony, the prosecutor—Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Jerry R. Albert, of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona—accused Lopez-Avila of having lied to the federal magistrate presiding at an earlier hearing.

But the prosecutor's quotation was only part of what he represented was a question *624 asked the defendant under oath by the magistrate judge. It was a half-truth. Without telling the court or defense counsel, the prosecutor presented to court and counsel an altered version of the prior hearing's question and answer, and the altered version of such dialogue made it appear as though Lopez-Avila had contradicted herself on a material point, when she plainly had not. The district court naturally assumed the prosecutor had read the question and answer whole, and allowed the questioning to proceed. When the prosecutor's misrepresentation was discovered by defense counsel, he moved for a mistrial, which the court swiftly granted. The defense then moved to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, on double jeopardy grounds, but the district court denied that motion. Lopez-Avila's appeal from the denial of that motion is the legal issue before us.

We affirm the district court's denial of the motion to dismiss the indictment on double jeopardy grounds. In addition, we take several steps to ensure that AUSA Jerry Albert's actions are properly investigated, and that he is disciplined if the relevant authorities deem it proper. In so doing, we bear in mind that AUSA Albert's conduct is not directly before us, and we express no judgment as to what sanctions, if any, are proper.

I.

Defendant Aurora Lopez-Avila attempted to enter the United States from Mexico at the Nogales Port of Entry in Arizona. Upon a tip from an informant, customs officials searched her car and found 9.7 kilograms of cocaine behind the back seat cushion. Lopez-Avila was charged by indictment with possession with intent to distribute over 5 kilograms of cocaine in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) and 21 U.S.C. § 841(b)(1)(A)(ii)(II).

Lopez-Avila initially pleaded guilty. At the guilty plea hearing, Lopez-Avila was asked a standard set of questions by a magistrate judge, including questions put to ascertain whether Lopez-Avila was knowingly and voluntarily entering a plea of guilty to the charges against her. The questioning included the following colloquy:

COURT: In the last 48 hours have you had any drugs, prescription medication, or alcoholic beverage?
DEFENDANT: No.
COURT: Have you ever been treated for a mental condition?
DEFENDANT: No.
COURT: Ms. Lopez, has anyone threatened you or forced you to plead guilty?
DEFENDANT: No.
COURT: Has anyone made any promises to you as to what would happen in your case?
DEFENDANT: No.[1]

One month later, during a presentence interview, Lopez-Avila stated that she had *625 been "`forced' to commit this offense, or she would face dire consequences." Lopez-Avila had not earlier mentioned to defense counsel that she had been threatened to transport the contraband. Her counsel forthwith moved to withdraw the guilty plea in light of this new information. Following a hearing, the court granted the motion to withdraw the guilty plea.

The case proceeded to trial. Lopez-Avila conceded that she had been transporting contraband and therefore, as the district court later stated, "the whole issue in [the] case [was] whether [Lopez-Avila] was under duress, or threatened, or forced to commit this crime."[2] The government's case-in-chief took approximately one-and-a-half days. During that time, according to the district court, there were "no big surprises" during the testimony of the government's three witnesses. Rather, "the government ... was moving forward as it had expected as the evidence was being presented."

On the afternoon of the second day of trial, Lopez-Avila took the stand in her own defense. She testified she had been coerced to transport the drugs found in her car. During cross-examination, the prosecutor—Jerry Albert of the U.S. Attorney's office in Tucson—attempted to impeach Lopez-Avila's testimony regarding such coercion by asking questions regarding what Lopez-Avila had said during her initial guilty plea hearing. Defense counsel objected, and at sidebar defense counsel argued that there was "an agreement that this change of plea and her admitting guilt was not going to be a part of this record." The prosecutor stated that he wanted to use certain questions and answers from that hearing to impeach Lopez-Avila but that, pursuant to counsels' agreement, he would not "bring out [that] she pled guilty." In particular, the prosecutor requested that he be allowed to recite to Lopez-Avila the following question and answer from the initial guilty plea hearing:

COURT: Ms. Lopez, has anybody threatened you?
DEFENDANT: No.

The court overruled the objection and allowed the prosecution to proceed.

The prosecution then asked Lopez-Avila about that exchange:

Q: Do you recall testifying under oath on February 24th, 2010, and being asked this question by the Court—by the Magistrate Judge:
Ms. Lopez, has anyone threatened you?
And you gave—did you give the following answer:
No.
Did you tell that under oath to Magistrate Judge Guerin?
DEFENDANT: Yes.
Q: Was that a lie?
DEFENDANT: How is that? I don't understand.
Q: Well, are you—you've now admitted that you in fact told the judge that you were not threatened in this case. And I'm asking you was your testimony on February 24th, 2010, while you were under oath, was that a lie? Did you lie to the judge about not being threatened?
DEFENDANT: Yes.
(Emphasis added.)

*626 Cross-examination proceeded for approximately forty more minutes, when the court took a brief recess. At the recess, defense counsel asked the prosecution for a copy of the transcript from the guilty plea hearing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
666 F.3d 622, 2012 WL 89270, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 624, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lopez-avila-ca9-2012.