Torres-Ruiz
Torres-Ruiz v. United States District Court for Southern District of California
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Petitioners Martin Torres-Ruiz and Rafael Machado-Triana have filed a petition for writ of mandamus requesting that this court order the district court to schedule the taking of their videotaped depositions under 18 U.S.C. § 3144 . For the reasons stated below, the petition is granted.
A. Factual Background
On the afternoon of April 22, 1997, agents of the United States Border Patrol stopped a motorhome bearing California license plates near the Oak Grove checkpoint. The driver, defendant Mariano Rosales-Alvarez, admitted to the Border Patrol agents that he was a Mexican citizen who was not legally in the United States. Rosales-Alvarez and the passenger in the front passenger seat, who also admitted to being a Mexican citizen illegally in the United States, were taken into custody. A search of the motorhome revealed 27 other persons, all of whom admitted that they had crossed into this country at a place other than a legal border crossing. Of the 27 passengers in the back of the motorhome, all but two, petitioners Torres-Ruiz and Macha-do-Triana, were granted voluntary departure to return to Mexico. Petitioners were detained as material witnesses.