Cisneros

I. BACKGROUND

The United States charged co-defendants in this case with, among other crimes, conspiracy to commit murder, murder, and offenses under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. Shortly after being indicted in the District of New Mexico in November 2002, co-defendants entered into a written JDA. The district court approved the JDA and allowed co-defendants to conduct joint defense meetings. The Government later dismissed the New Mexico indictment when it indicted co-defendants on similar charges in the Dis- trict of Arizona in July 2003. Upon transferring to Arizona, co-defendants signed an identical JDA, from which Alvarado eventually withdrew to cooperate with the Government.

On May 26, 2004, the Government moved to strike or clar- ify certain JDA provisions that could keep Alvarado from dis- cussing statements that co-defendants made in jail after signing the New Mexico JDA. Alvarado had been housed in the same jail pod as Defendants Felipe Cisneros, Luis Cisne- ros, Paul Eppinger, Raymond Llamas, and Angel Rivera 9012 UNITED STATES v. AUSTIN while detained in New Mexico from January to November 2003. Alvarado’s attorney had…