United States v. Domingo Ibarra-Ramirez

MEMORANDUM

Defendant-Appellant Domingo Ibarra-Ramirez appeals his conviction and sentence, after a jury trial, of charges of possession with intent to distribute and importation of both methamphetamine and cocaine. The charges stemmed from his attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexiean border alone driving a vehicle containing the controlled substances. We affirm.

His principal argument on appeal is that the district court should have permitted him to admit evidence of the degree of purity of the methamphetamine after the government and defense counsel had agreed to a stipulation regarding the nature of the controlled substances. The district court refused to admit the evidence that showed the level of purity, because the government in reliance upon the stipulation had dismissed the government expert who could have testified as to both the contents of the report and the significance of the data in it. There was no abuse of discretion. Moreover, while the defense contends it wanted to pursue a “decoy” theory based on the impurity of the methamphetamine, such evidence would not have affected the uncontrovert-ed evidence concerning the cocaine.

The district court also did not abuse its…