United States v. Susana Sanchez-Robles
Opinion
Opinion
Rymer, J.
ORDER
The appellee’s request for publication is GRANTED.
The opinion and memorandum dispositions filed January 17, 1991, are withdrawn and the attached opinion filed in its stead authored by Judge Rymer.
OPINION
A jury found Susana Sanchez-Robles guilty of importing cocaine, importing marijuana and possessing marijuana and cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 841 (a), 952 & 960. She appeals on grounds of insufficiency of the evidence, prosecutorial misconduct, error in several evidentiary rulings and error in giving a “deliberate ignorance” instruction under United States v. Jewell, 532 F.2d 697 (9th Cir.) (en banc), cert. denied, 426 U.S. 951 , 96 S.Ct. 3173 , 49 L.Ed.2d 1188 (1976), where the only evidence to support a Jewell instruction was her presence in a van which agents said reeked of marijuana. Because there were no circumstances to arouse in Sanchez-Robles’s mind a suspicion of illegal activity aside from the strong odor and because that odor, if recognized, would establish only her actual knowledge of illegality and not deliberate ignorance, the Jewell instruction was inappropriate. Accordingly, we reverse.