United States v. Gerard Smith

MEMORANDUM

Gerard Smith, Maricela Long, Gregory Thompson, Mickey Manzo, Scott Craig, Stephen Leavins, (collectively, the “Joint Appellants”), and James Sexton each appeal their convictions for obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. See 18 U.S.C. §§ 371 , 1503(a). Long and Craig also appeal their convictions for making false statements. See id. § 1001(a)(2). Craig and Leavins also appeal their sentences. The Joint Appellants and Seaton raise a number of issues. We affirm.

A) Evidentiary rulings

The Joint Appellants and Sexton challenge a number of evidentiary rulings in their respective trials; all of their challenges fail.

(1) Challenges by the Joint Appellants

First, the district court did not abuse its discretion by excluding the testimony of Paul Yoshinaga, Chief Legal Ad-visor to the LASD, on the grounds that it was irrelevant and its probative value was outweighed by the risk of confusing the jury. See Fed. R. Evid. 401-403; see also United States v. Haischer, 780 F.3d 1277, 1281 (9th Cir. 2015). While the evidence was somewhat relevant, it was minimally probative and risked misleading the jury with Yoshinaga’s legal opinions. Moreover, any error in…