United States v. Cruz Torres-Gonzalez

MEMORANDUM

Cruz Torres-Gonzalez (Torres) appeals his convictions for unlawful reentry and making a false statement to a federal officer in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 and 18 U.S.C. § 1001 . We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

1. The district court did not commit plain error by instructing the jury that to find Torres guilty under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 , it was required to find that he made a false statement “willfully, that is, deliberately and with knowledge that the statement was untrue.” Assuming, without deciding, that the jury instruction amounted to error, Torres cannot establish that the error affected his substantial rights. United States v. Marcus, 560 U.S. 258, 262 , 130 S.Ct. 2159 , 176 L.Ed.2d 1012 (2010). Torres admitted at trial that he had been deported at least twenty times, that he had prior convictions for illegal reentry, and that he had previously pled guilty to the crime of making a false statement to a federal officer. Given Torres’s extensive history with immigration authorities and his prior convictions for the same offense, he cannot credibly maintain that he did not know it was unlawful to make a false statement to immigration…