Liberato

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 23-3262 D.C. No. Plaintiff - Appellee, 4:23-cr-00139-

JAS-MAA-1

v.

WARDY ALFONSO LIBERATO

OPINION

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona James Alan Soto, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 24, 2025 Phoenix, Arizona

Filed July 8, 2025

Before: Marsha S. Berzon and Mark J. Bennett, Circuit Judges, and John R. Tunheim, District Judge. *

Opinion by Judge Berzon; Dissent by Judge Bennett

* The Honorable John R. Tunheim, United States District Judge for the District of Minnesota, sitting by designation. SUMMARY **

Criminal Law

The panel reversed Wardy Alfonso Liberato’s conviction under 8 U.S.C. § 1326(a) for entering and being found in the United States after having been removed, and remanded for entry of a judgment of acquittal. The only issue on appeal was whether the government’s evidence was sufficient to establish that Liberato was free from official restraint at some point before his apprehension, as required for conviction under § 1326. In…