United States v. Matilde Romero Sanchez

Appellant was convicted of facilitating the transportation and concealment of 1,140 grams of heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 174 . On appeal she complains of the trial court’s refusal to instruct the jury on entrapment. We affirm.

Appellant and her daughter were charged with transporting and concealing the heroin in Nogales, Arizona, knowing it to have been illegally imported. The daughter failed to appear for trial and appellant was tried alone. Appellant denied knowledge of the illegal importation, but also claimed that she was entrapped by a government agent who had called her son-in-law, Hector Ambriz, a “big dealer” across the border in Mexico, prior to the arrest. This call was tape recorded.

At the pretrial hearing appellant moved for production of the recordings, and the motion was denied. However, prior to trial the judge permitted her counsel to hear the existing tapes, and counsel acknowledged that he had listened to them. One of the recordings, taken after appellant was arrested, had unfortunately been erased by an agent in the course of consolidating the tapes. With appellant’s counsel present the trial court heard testimony in chambers by government agents about…