Nwankwo

MEMORANDUM **

Appellant Victor Nwankwo (“Appellant”) appeals his conviction and his 140-month sentence. Appellant contends that his retrial was barred by double jeopardy. Appellant also appeals the District Court’s decision at his second trial to admit evidence of other crimes or bad acts under Fed.R.Evid. 403 and 404(b).

Double Jeopardy

The court reviews the double jeopardy claim under the plain error standard because the double jeopardy issue was untimely, even assuming that it would have been timely if it had been properly raised in the Rule 29 motion following the third trial. See Brecht v. Abrahamson, 507 U.S. 619, 635 , 113 S.Ct. 1710 , 123 L.Ed.2d 353 (1992) (confirming that the federal “plain error” rule applies in determining whether a defendant may raise a claim for the first time on direct appeal) (citation omitted); United States v. Freeman, 6 F.3d 586, 600-01 (9th Cir.1993). Merely mentioning the words “double jeopardy” in the heading of the Rule 29 memorandum, but failing to discuss the topic in the body of the memorandum, does not sufficiently raise the issue.

Turning to the merits of the double jeopardy claim, we find that the Government did not deliberately…