United States v. Maria Adames

357 F. App'x 215
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedDecember 15, 2009
Docket08-13109
StatusUnpublished

This text of 357 F. App'x 215 (United States v. Maria Adames) 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. Maria Adames, 357 F. App'x 215 (11th Cir. 2009).

Opinion

PER CURIAM:

This is an appeal raising innocence, evi-dentiary, and sentencing guidelines issues. Appellant Maria Adames (“Adames”) appeals her conviction and 134-month sentence imposed after she was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine, in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841(a)(1) and (b)(l)(A)(ii) and 846.

After reviewing the record, reading the parties’ briefs, and having the benefit of oral argument, we conclude that Adames is not entitled to relief from her conviction or sentence based on any of issues she presents on appeal.

The issues presented on appeal are:

(1) Did the district court abuse its discretion or plainly err with regard to the following evidentiary rulings:
A. Allowing in evidence that a drug dog had alerted on various packages;
B. Allowing in postal evidence regarding the packages mailed to Adames;
C. Allowing in testimony regarding the delivery of cocaine to other co-conspirators and the seizure of cocaine from packages that Adames did not receive herself, as well as certain plea agreements;
D. Limiting Adames’s request to use polygraph evidence to impeach government witness; and
E. Sustaining the government’s objections to leading questions asked by Adames’s counsel during her direct examination?

(2) Did the district court abuse its discretion when it rejected Adames’s proposed addition to the pattern jury instruction on multiple conspiracies?

(3) Was the jury’s verdict supported by sufficient evidence?

(4) Did the district court clearly err in determining Adames’s sentence by holding her accountable for more than 15 kilograms of cocaine?

*217 (5) Did the district court plainly err by failing to determine, sua sponte, that Adames had been entrapped as a matter of law?

This court ordinarily reviews evidentiary rulings for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Padron, 527 F.3d 1156, 1159 (11th Cir.2008). “We recognize a significant range of choice for the district court on evidentiary issues, which is to say we defer to its decisions to a considerable extent.” United States v. Brown, 415 F.3d 1257, 1265 (11th Cir.2005). Regarding the evidentiary rulings that Adames preserved by contemporaneously objecting, “a court of appeals normally engages in a specific analysis of the district court record — a so-called ‘harmless error’ inquiry — to determine whether the error was prejudicial.” Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(a); United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 734, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993). Regarding the evidentiary rulings that Adames challenges for the first time on appeal, this court may review those rulings only for plain error affecting Adames’s substantial rights. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); Olano, 507 U.S. at 734, 113 S.Ct. 1770; United States v. Edouard, 485 F.3d 1324, 1343 (11th Cir.2007).

This court reviews the district court’s refusal to give a requested jury instruction for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Moore, 525 F.3d 1033, 1046 (11th Cir.2008). Such denial of a requested instruction is reversible error only if (1) the requested instruction correctly stated the law; (2) the actual charge to the jury did not substantially cover the proposed instruction; and (3) the failure to give the instruction substantially impaired the defendant’s ability to present an effective defense. United States v. Richardson, 532 F.3d 1279, 1289 (11th Cir.2008).

“Whether the record contains sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict is a question of law that we review de novo.” United States v. Calderon, 127 F.3d 1314, 1324 (11th Cir.1997).

This court reviews for clear error the district court’s factual determination of the drug quantity for sentencing purposes. United States v. Rodriguez, 398 F.3d 1291, 1296 (11th Cir.2005). This court reviews the district court’s application of the relevant conduct provisions of U.S.S.G. § lB1.3(a) for clear error. United States v. Amedeo, 370 F.3d 1305, 1313 (11th Cir.2004). Objections to sentencing calculation issues raised for the first time on appeal are reviewed for plain error. United States v. Bennett, 472 F.3d 825, 831 (11th Cir.2006). This standard requires that there be error, that the error be plain, and that the error affect a substantial right. Id. “When ... a defendant challenges one of the factual bases of his sentence as set forth in the PSI, the government has the burden of establishing the disputed fact by a preponderance of the evidence.” United States v. Edmonds, 348 F.3d 950, 953 (11th Cir.2003) (citing United States v. Bernardine, 73 F.3d 1078, 1080 (11th Cir.1996)).

Because Adames did not contend in the district court that she was entitled to a judgment of acquittal because she had been entrapped as a matter of law, this court may review that contention only for plain error affecting Adames’s substantial rights. Fed.R.Crim.P. 52(b); Olano, 507 U.S. at 734, 113 S.Ct. 1770; Edouard, 485 F.3d at 1343.

We first conclude from the record that the district court did not abuse its discretion or plainly err with regard to any of the evidentiary issues presented.

We also conclude that the district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Adames’s request to amend the Eleventh Circuit Pattern Jury Instruction *218

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Related

United States v. Bernardine
73 F.3d 1078 (Eleventh Circuit, 1996)
United States v. Edmonds
348 F.3d 950 (Eleventh Circuit, 2003)
United States v. Damon Amedeo
370 F.3d 1305 (Eleventh Circuit, 2004)
United States v. Ronald Keith Brown
415 F.3d 1257 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)
United States v. Carl Bennett
472 F.3d 825 (Eleventh Circuit, 2006)
United States v. Serge Edouard
485 F.3d 1324 (Eleventh Circuit, 2007)
United States v. Moore
525 F.3d 1033 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Padron
527 F.3d 1156 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Hunt
526 F.3d 739 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Richardson
532 F.3d 1279 (Eleventh Circuit, 2008)
United States v. Olano
507 U.S. 725 (Supreme Court, 1993)
United States v. Alberto Calderon
127 F.3d 1314 (Eleventh Circuit, 1997)
United States v. Rodriguez
398 F.3d 1291 (Eleventh Circuit, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
357 F. App'x 215, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-maria-adames-ca11-2009.