United States v. Pablo Arenas-Ortiz, AKA Lino Carrero Gopar

Defendant Pablo Arenas-Ortiz was convicted of illegally re-entering the United States after having been deported in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . He appeals the district court’s denial of his motion to compel discovery to support his claim that the United States Attorney engaged in a pattern of selective prosecution of Hispanic males under 8 U.S.C. § 1326 , in violation of the equal protection guarantees of the Fifth Amendment. Because Arenas-Ortiz has failed to present evidence that similarly situated individuals could have been prosecuted, but were not, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK

We must exercise a high degree of deference to the decision of prosecuting authorities to bring charges, because the Constitution assigns that decision to the executive branch of government. See United States v. Armstrong, 517 U.S. 456, 464 , 116 S.Ct. 1480 , 134 L.Ed.2d 687 (1996). One important restriction on prosecutorial discretion, however, is that “the decision whether to prosecute may not be based on ‘an unjustifiable standard such as race, religion, or other arbitrary classification.’ ” Id. at 464 , 116 S.Ct. 1480 (quoting Oyler v. Boles, 368…