United States v. Oscar Rodriguez

ORDER AND AMENDED OPINION

ORDER

The Opinion filed June 19, 2014, is amended sua sponte to remove the language appearing on page 22, first full paragraph of the Slip Opinion, beginning with and continuing through the end of the paragraph.

A copy of the amended opinion is attached to the Order and filed concurrently with the Order.

With this amendment, the panel has voted unanimously to deny the Petition For Rehearing En Banc filed by Alejandro Mu-jica on July 31, 2014. The full court has been advised of the petition for rehearing en banc, and no judge has requested a vote on whether to rehear the matter. See Fed. R.App. P. 35.

The petition for rehearing en banc is DENIED. No further petitions for panel rehearing or for rehearing en banc will be entertained.

OPINION

Appellants Oscar Rodriguez (Rodriguez), Jose Murillo (Murillo), and Alejandro Mujica (Mujica) challenge their convictions for conspiracy to commit murder and first degree murder stemming from the stabbing of a prison inmate, Peter Scopazzi (Scopazzi) at the United States Penitentiary at Victorville, California. Appellants contend that the district court abused its discretion in excluding evidence that…