Rios

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,  No. 05-50000 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v.  CR-04-00177- GILBERT L. RIOS, JR., a/k/a Seal C, RSWL-03 a/k/a Gilbert Lopez, Jr.,

OPINION

Defendant-Appellant.  Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California Ronald S.W. Lew, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 6, 2006—Pasadena, California

Filed June 2, 2006

Before: M. Margaret McKeown and Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judges, and Samuel P. King,* District Judge.

Opinion by Judge Berzon

*The Honorable Samuel P. King, Senior United States District Judge for the District of Hawaii, sitting by designation. COUNSEL

Jerry D. Whatley, Santa Barbara, California, for the defendant-appellant.

Andrea L. Russi, Assistant United States Attorney, Los Ange- les, California, for the plaintiff-appellee.

OPINION

BERZON, Circuit Judge:

Gilbert Rios, Jr. (Rios) was convicted by a jury of seven counts relating to a conspiracy with his father, Gilbert Lopez Rios, Sr. (Rios, Sr.) and his grandmother, Martha Lopez Rios (Martha…