Calvillo-Reyes

MEMORANDUM ***

The government’s closing rebuttal argument was proper. The government’s statements regarding other individuals and a larger smuggling organization were based upon reasonable inferences from the evidence introduced at trial from both parties. United, States v. Ramirez-Lopez, 315 F.3d 1143, 1156 (9th Cir.2003).

Moreover, even if we were to assume it was improper, it was not “plain” error. The cases relied on by Calvillo-Reyes involve the presentation of expert testimony on the structure of drug trafficking organizations; 1 no case has yet applied this rationale to the alien-smuggling context, nor has any case suggested that the prosecution cannot allude to a larger organization in closing argument if the evidence supports such an argument.

We also cannot say that the government’s argument prejudiced CalvilloReyes. Nothing about the government’s argument contradicted Calvillo-Reyes’s theory of defense (that he was an unknowing pawn who had been duped by his female passenger); the jury heard Calvillo-Reyes’s explanation and obviously rejected it. There was also substantial circumstantial evidence of Calvillo-Reyes’s guilt, including the numerous lies he offered to…