Leon-Gil
United States v. Leon-Gil
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
Heriberto Leon-Gil appeals the district court’s decision, over Leon-Gil’s objection, to allow portions of Michael Breslin’s testimony. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We affirm.
A. Rule 401 Objection
Because the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recite them here. Breslin’s testimony was relevant because it made it less probable that Leon-Gil was on his way to work the morning he crossed the Mexico-United States border driving a vehicle that did not contain a lunch or work tools. 1 Leon-Gil told the border officials that he was on his way to work, giving himself an alternate purpose for crossing the border, other than for drug trafficking. He also testified that he would not have driven the car over the border if he would have known that the vehicle contained drugs. This placed directly at issue whether Leon-Gil was aware there were drugs in the vehicle he was driving and hence in fact on his way to work. Breslin’s testimony had a tendency to prove that Leon-Gil was not on his way to work, inferentially saying that Leon-Gil was intentionally trafficking drugs. Thus, his testimony is relevant.