United States v. Alfonso Torres

Alfonso Torres appeals his conviction for knowingly transporting seventy-three kilograms of cocaine across the United States-Mexieo border concealed in a specially constructed compartment of his pickup truck. See 21 Ü.S.C. §§ 952, 960. At his first trial, which ended in a hung jury, the district court permitted Torres to testify that his friend in Tijuana, Fernando Griese, borrowed his truck on several occasions. During this time, Torres alleged the modifications and concealment could have been made to his truck without his knowledge. On retrial, Torres attempted to testify about other requests made to him by Griese, who Torres claimed was manipulating him into unknowingly carrying drugs across the border by asking him for favors running errands in San Diego. The district court, however, precluded this line of questioning as hearsay and irrelevant.

We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We hold that the district court properly excluded Torres’s “favors” testimony as hearsay because — although some questions and inquiries may constitute non-hearsay — where the declarant intends the question to communicate an implied assertion and the proponent offers it for this…