United States v. Rudy Soto

. MEMORANDUM

Rudy Soto appeals his. conviction and sentence for kidnapping and conspiring to kidnap his ex-girlfriend. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm in part, and vacate and remand in part.

1. Soto argues that the district court’s comment to defense counsel, “Have you lost your mind?”, and its rulings during the defense cross-examination of witness Mendoza, entitle him to a new trial. We review the district court’s denial of Soto’s motion for mistrial and motion for new trial for an abuse of discretion. See United States v. Homick, 964 F.2d 899, 906 (9th Cir.1992); United States v. King, 660 F.3d 1071, 1076 (9th Cir.2011). First, while we do not condone the district court’s comment made before the jury, this single comment did not “project[ ] to the jury an appearance of advocacy or partiality,” and Soto was not prejudiced. See United States v. Scott, 642 F.3d 791, 799 (9th Cir.2011) (internal quotation marks omitted). The comment was made after the court sustained several government objections to defense counsel’s similar, repetitive, compound questions that all covered the same ground. Soto’s defense counsel did, early on during his repetitive…