United States v. Jesus Rivera-Paredes

MEMORANDUM

Jesus Manuel Rivera-Paredes appeals from his judgment of conviction following a jury trial for three counts of attempted bringing in of illegal aliens for financial gain and one count of failure to heave to. Although we are troubled by the sparse records of the government’s interviews of deported witnesses, Rivera-Paredes does not challenge the district court’s denial of an evidentiary hearing to further develop the record regarding those interviews. We therefore take the record as we find it, and we affirm.

I. Deported Witnesses.

Rivera-Paredes first appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment on the grounds that the government violated his due process and compulsory process rights by deporting sixteen witnesses who had exculpatory information. We review de novo the district court’s denial of a motion to dismiss the indictment on account of the prosecution’s failure to retain witnesses. United States v. Pena-Gutierrez, 222 F.3d 1080 , 1085 n. 1 (9th Cir.2000). To prevail, Rivera-Pa-redes must demonstrate that the government acted in bad faith — specifically, that it deported the witnesses despite having “information suggesting that…