United States v. Celerino Camacho-Davalos
Opinion
Opinion
Appellant and his wife were convicted for conspiracy with codefendant BernalVela to smuggle and to transport aliens into the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 8 U.S.C. § 1324 and for transporting three aliens, Soliz-Paeheco, Barajas-Rodriguez, and PerezSerna, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324 (a) (2). Appellant was acquitted of an additional count charging him with illegally transporting Romero-Rodriguez. We reverse the conviction for insufficiency of the evidence.
About 1:30 A.M. on February 20, 1971, two border patrol agents saw a pickup truck and a station wagon on a highway about 75 miles north of the Mexican border. The two vehicles were traveling fairly close together. The agents stopped the truck, and the station wagon drove on. Agent Ainscoe searched the truck and saw a group of “Mexican appearing” people in it. The driver was Bernal-Vela, an 18-year old Mexican national who had entered this country illegally. Among the people in the truck were three men who identified themselves several hours later as SolizPacheco, Barajas-Rodriguez, and PerezSerna. All of the occupants, except minor children, were arrested.