United States v. Zhi Yong Guo

MEMORANDUM

A jury convicted Defendant Zhi Yong Guo of knowingly and willfully conspiring to export, and attempting to export, ten export-controlled thermal imaging cameras to China without a license. In an opinion published this date, we uphold against a vagueness challenge the constitutionality of the statute of conviction. In this disposition, we consider Defendant’s remaining claims, none of which persuades us to reverse his conviction.

1. The district court properly overruled Defendant’s objection under Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 , 90 L.Ed.2d 69 (1986). The court correctly engaged in the three-step process for determining whether the government had challenged the juror because of her race. See id. at 96-98 , 106 S.Ct. 1712 . The government offered two race-neutral reasons for its challenge, which Defendant did not rebut. No retained juror possessed the same characteristics as the challenged juror, and the government did not chal lenge two other jurors of Chinese descent. Accordingly, the court permissibly ruled that Defendant had failed to prove a discriminatory purpose.

2. The district court properly denied Defendant’s motion to excuse a juror for…