United States v. Maximino Rodriguez-Robles

MEMORANDUM

Maximino Rodriguez-Robles was convicted of being a deported alien found in the United States, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . On appeal, Rodriguez-Robles argues that the district court erred in granting the government’s motion in limine to preclude Rodriguez-Robles from presenting evidence that he believed he could enter the United States based on his membership in the Kumiai Indian tribe, and in denying Rodriguez-Robles’s motion in li-mine to allow him to present a defense of his good faith belief that he had permission to enter the United States. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Although Rodriguez-Robles now concedes that evidence of his good faith belief that he entered the United States legally was not relevant to the elements of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 , he argues that such evidence was relevant to the affirmative defense of entrapment by estoppel, and that the district court erred in precluding his defense. A district court “should exclude [a] defense and the evidence offered in support” of the defense “[i]f the defendant’s offer of proof is insufficient as a matter of law to support the proffered defense.” United States v. Arellano-Rivera,…