United States v. Miguel Perez

443 F.3d 772, 2006 WL 696507
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
DecidedMarch 21, 2006
Docket05-12404
StatusPublished
Cited by127 cases

This text of 443 F.3d 772 (United States v. Miguel Perez) 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. Miguel Perez, 443 F.3d 772, 2006 WL 696507 (11th Cir. 2006).

Opinion

MARCUS, Circuit Judge:

Miguel Perez appeals his conviction, entered after a two-day bench trial, for multiple counts of bringing aliens to the United States knowing, or in reckless disregard of the fact that the aliens had not received prior authorization to enter the country, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(2)(B)(iii). The charges arose from law enforcement’s discovery of six Cuban nationals on a boat from which Perez, along with a co-defendant, the owner of the boat, had disembarked at Matheson Hammock in southwestern Miami-Dade County. On appeal, Perez argues the district court erred by: (1) denying his motion to suppress evidence seized from the boat; (2) admitting evidence of his 2002 conviction for smuggling aliens, pursuant to Fed.R.Evid. 404(b); and (3) denying his motion for judgment of acquittal, pursuant to Fed. R.Crim.P. 29, in which he argued the government failed to show that he knowingly committed the offense or acted with reckless disregard of his passengers’ status as illegal aliens. After thorough review, we affirm.

I.

“A district court’s ruling on a motion to suppress presents a mixed question of law and fact.” United States v. Zapata, 180 F.3d 1237, 1240 (11th Cir. 1999). We accept the district court’s factual findings as true unless the findings are shown to be clearly erroneous. Id. at 1240-41. All facts are construed in the light most favorable to the prevailing party below. United States v. Bervaldi, 226 F.3d 1256, 1262 (11th Cir.2000). The district court’s application of the law to the facts is reviewed de novo. Id. We review for abuse of discretion a district court’s ruling on the admissibility of evidence of uncharged conduct under Rule 404(b). See United States v. Miller, 959 F.2d 1535, 1538 (11th Cir.1992) (en banc). We review de novo the district court’s denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal, viewing the facts and drawing all inferences in the light most favorable to the government. See United States v. Descent, 292 F.3d 703, 706 (11th Cir.2002), cert. denied, 537 U.S. 1132, 123 S.Ct. 913, 154 L.Ed.2d 820 (2003). To affirm the denial of a motion for judgment of acquittal, filed pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 29, we need determine only that a reasonable factfinder could conclude that the evidence established the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.

The relevant facts are straightforward. On August 6, 2004, Perez and his co-defendant, Juan Carlos Valdez, were indicted for one count of conspiring to bring aliens into the United States illegally, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a) (2) (B) (iii) (Count 1), and six counts of bringing aliens into the United States illegally, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(2)(B)(iii) and 18 U.S.C. § 2 (Counts 2-7). Before trial, Perez filed a motion to suppress evidence discovered by the government at the time of his arrest. In his motion, Perez stated that, on July 25, 2004, law enforcement agents from the Miami-Dade County Police Department (“MDPD”) and the U.S. Border Patrol boarded a boat at the Matheson Hammock Marina, without consent or a warrant, and discovered six illegal aliens whose entry into the United States formed the basis of the charges against him. Perez argued *775 that: (1) the stop was not a valid border search since there was no evidence the boat had crossed an international boundary; and (2) the encounter was not a valid Terry 1 stop because the law enforcement officers did not have reasonable suspicion of illegal activity. Also before trial, the government filed notice of its intent to introduce evidence of Perez’s prior conviction for alien smuggling, pursuant to Fed. R.Evid. 404(b).

At the suppression hearing, MDPD Lieutenant Arthur Gonzalez testified that on the evening of July 25, 2004, while performing an off-duty residential patrol in southwest Miami-Dade County, he entered Matheson Hammock Marina and observed a boat docking with four men on it. This observation took place at about 1:00 A.M. and Lt. Gonzalez testified that, given the “rough” weather, he found it unusual for a boat to be docking that late in the evening. Lt. Gonzalez turned off the engine of his unmarked police cruiser and watched as the 28-foot Roberts fishing boat entered its dock location. Lt. Gonzalez said that the men on the boat watched him as he drove by and that they appeared to be “confused” and “awkward” in their handling of the boat. He also observed no indication that the men had been fishing, but rather, that they looked “very clean” and “neat,” which, to Lt. Gonzalez, was not consistent with fishing.

After the men had loaded the boat onto a trailer, Lt. Gonzalez approached them as they were standing next to the truck. He was alone and in uniform, did not draw his gun, and did not block the truck’s exit from the area with his patrol car. After he briefly flashed his blue lights, he left his patrol car’s high-beams on in order to illuminate the scene. He approached the men and asked: “You guys okay? What are you doing here so late?” to which Valdez responded that they had been fishing. When Lt. Gonzalez asked the men if they had identification, each produced a Florida driver’s license. Lt. Gonzalez then asked who owned the truck and boat, and Valdez responded that they were his and produced registration for the truck. Valdez said that the boat registration was on the boat and asked if Lt. Gonzalez wanted to see it. At that point, Perez volunteered to retrieve the registration from the boat and asked if Lt. Gonzalez wanted to come with him.

After boarding the boat, Perez began looking for the registration documents. Unable to find them, he asked for Valdez’s help, who, in turn informed Perez that the papers were in the cabin. Perez then began speaking in a loud voice as he approached the boat’s cabin and appeared “nervous” and “jittery” when he opened the cabin door. Lt. Gonzalez found four people inside who, he later learned, were Cuban nationals illegally entering the' country from Cuba. The two other men, who Lt. Gonzalez had observed helping Perez and Valdez load the boat, were also illegal aliens from Cuba. At the time he discovered the Cuban nationals, Lt. Gonzalez estimated that about five or six minutes had passed since the time he initially approached the men.

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Bluebook (online)
443 F.3d 772, 2006 WL 696507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-miguel-perez-ca11-2006.