United States v. Maria Refugio Martinez-Frausto

Appellant was convicted by a jury of one substantive count of smuggling an alien, one Filimon Garcia-Quesada, into this country from Mexico ( 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a) (1)), and acquitted of a conspiracy to smuggle aliens.

She now raises six alleged errors. They are:

1. The reference to Agent Acuna's belief that appellant’s original statement was corroborated by Garcia-Quesada.

This was permitted in evidence only for the limited purpose of indicating the state of mind of the witness when he went back to take the statement of the defendant. [R.T. p. 132] The objection as to relevancy was overruled. The jury was properly instructed.

2. The release by the United States Magistrate of the smuggled alien (permitting him to return to Mexico) over the objections of both defendant and the government. At the trial the defendant introduced the deposition of Garcia-Quesada as part of her case. [R.T. 214] It supported defendant’s trial testimony, but contradicted both his and the defendant’s earlier statements.

Appellant relies largely on the case of United States v. Mendez Rodriguez, 450 F.2d 1 (9th Cir. 1971) wherein the factual situation and the procedural questions raised were entirely…