United States v. Rolando Ontiveros

MEMORANDUM

Rolando Ontiveros appeals his conviction on ten counts: one count of racketeering under 18 U.S.C. § 1962 (c); one count of RICO conspiracy under 18 U.S.C. § 1962 (d); one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances under 21 U.S.C. § 846 ; five counts of violent crimes in aid of racketeering (VICAR) under 18 U.S.C. § 1959 (a); and two counts of use of firearms during or in relation to a VICAR crime under 18 U.S.C. § 924 (c). All charges relate to Ontiveros’s involvement with the Mexican Mafia in the late 1990s.

Ontiveros argues that the district court erred by: (1) accepting a defense witness’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination without adequately determining the scope of the privilege; (2) failing to compel testimony from that witness under a judicial grant of use immunity; (3) permitting lay testimony from a co-conspirator who decoded drug jargon gathered from conversations to which he was not a party; and (4) excluding testimony from a special agent of the FBI as unfairly prejudicial under Federal Rule of Evidence 403. Ontiveros also challenges his convictions on the ground that they were not supported by sufficient…