United States v. Luis Albert Gillespie

Luis Albert Gillespie appeals his conviction by a jury of causing the transportation of a person in interstate and foreign commerce for illegal sexual purposes ( 18 U.S.C. §§ 2 (b), 2421 (1987)) and of directly and indirectly importing an alien for immoral purposes ( 8 U.S.C. § 1328 (1982)).

The government’s case was based primarily on the testimony of Isabel Anderson, who testified she saw the appellant with his pants down rubbing himself against his three-year-old goddaughter while she lay on a bed with her underwear off and her nightgown drawn up. Anderson also testified that, a few weeks. earlier, she saw blood on the child’s underwear after she had been with the appellant a few hours. Anderson further testified that David Gillespie, the appellant’s adoptive father, used a false birth certificate to obtain an Ecuadorian court decree granting him custody of the child and a visa to bring her to the United States. At trial, the appellant denied that he ever abused the child.

On appeal, the appellant contends the trial court abused its discretion in 1) admitting evidence from which the jury could infer that he and David Gillespie had a homosexual relationship; 2) admitting…