United States v. Shontovia Debose

MEMORANDUM

In this consolidated criminal appeal, four co-defendants (Merzi, Debose, Settle, and Fuller) appeal their convictions for their participation in a bank and wire fraud conspiracy. The conspiracy involved unin-dicted co-conspirators in Egypt who fraudulently transferred money from victims to American accounts set up by the defendants, among others.

Merzi claims her participation in the conspiracy was coerced by her then-boyfriend Kenneth Lucas, the ringleader of the conspiracy. Merzi also argues that the district court improperly precluded evidence of Lucas’s domestic violence in support of her duress defense. The district court did not err when it precluded Merzi from presenting an affirmative defense of duress because Merzi did not make a pri-ma facie showing of duress. United States v. Ibarra-Pino, 657 F.3d 1000, 1005 (9th Cir.2011). The district court also did not abuse its discretion when it denied Merzi’s motion for continuance to substitute counsel because the district court’s ruling was not illogical, implausible, or without support in the record. United States v. Hink- son, 585 F.3d 1247, 1261-63 (9th Cir.2009) (en banc) (abuse of discretion test); United…