United States v. Yuami Yoshida, AKA Yuami Isogai

OVERVIEW

Yuami Yoshida (“Yoshida”) timely, appeals her jury conviction for her role in assisting three Chinese aliens into the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324 (a)(1)(A)(iv) and (a)(2)(B)(ii). Yo- shida argues that there was insufficient evidence for the jury to find that: (1) she knew or recklessly disregarded the fact that the aliens were illegally entering the United States; (2) she encouraged or induced their entry into the United States; (3) she brought or attempted to bring the aliens to the United States; and (4) she did so for private financial gain or commercial advantage. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

BACKGROUND

In August 2001, in the Fujian province of the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”), the families of Zhuan Dan Lin (“Zhuan”), Cheng Huang (“Cheng”), and Yue Rong Lin (“Yue”) made separate arrangements with someone identified as the “Snake-head” to smuggle Zhuan, Cheng, and Yue from the PRC into the United States. Each family paid approximately $50,000 for this service to the Snakehead operation.

The aliens’ journey from the PRC to the United States was comprised of three stages: (1) from the “source”…