Lopez-Martinez

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Lopez-Martinez was convicted based largely on the testi- mony of Eduardo Camacho-Reyes. The following account of events is taken from that testimony. In the summer of 2005, Camacho-Reyes hired Miguel Cruz-Morales to bring him, his wife, and his two young daughters from Mexico to the United States through the Arizona desert. For this service, Camacho- Reyes agreed to pay $1,800.

In late September, the Camacho-Reyes family traveled to Northern Mexico, where they were met by Miguel and his brother, Cecilio Cruz-Morales, who took them to a house to await the rest of the group that would travel with them. Two evenings later, after the rest of the group arrived, they took a bus into the desert and then began walking. It was at this point UNITED STATES v. LOPEZ-MARTINEZ 12677 that Camacho-Reyes first saw the man known as “Pedro,” whom he later identified as Cristino Lopez-Martinez, the defendant.

As they walked, Lopez-Martinez and each of the Cruz- Morales brothers alternated walking at the front of the group, with one of the others in the middle of the group, and the other one at the back. During breaks, the three men gathered away…