Sierra-Velasquez

These are consolidated appeals from jury trial convictions for conspiracy and hostage taking. Defendant Appellants, Salvador Sierra Velasquez, Crescencio Martinez Avendano, Gonzalo Guerrero Ar-ana, Mario Arenas Morales, Manuel Gonzales Garcia, Carlos Garcia Serrano, and Ruben Amezcua Casa, were all persons engaged in an illegal alien smuggling operation. The record shows that they agreed to take a group of aliens into the United States from Mexico for a fee, and then brutally detained the aliens against their *1220 will while demanding that the fee be paid. The principal legal question on appeal is whether their operation constituted hostage taking within the meaning of 18 U.S.C. § 1203 (a), or whether hostage taking in the alien smuggling context must be limited to the circumstances we dealt with in United States v. Lopez-Flores, 63 F.3d 1468 (9th Cir.1995).

In Lopez-Flores , the defendants agreed to smuggle an alien from Mexico to the United States for a fee. 63 F.3d at 1470 . They then took the alien to a different location than was previously agreed upon, and demanded a higher smuggling fee. Id. The court found that these circumstances rendered the detention…