United States v. Banales-Venegas

MEMORANDUM

Juan Manuel Banales-Venegas (“Ba-nales”) appeals his conviction and sentence after a jury trial on one count of bank fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1344 and two counts of wire fraud under 18 U.S.C. § 1343 . We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we affirm.

Banales argues that the district court erred in precluding certain questions on cross-examination of the government’s cooperating witnesses regarding their possible bias or motive to lie. The district court’s imposition of “a limitation on the scope of questioning within a given area” is reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Larson, 495 F.3d 1094, 1101 (9th Cir.2007) (en banc). Because the questions Banales wished to ask were either improper under the rules of evidence, or sought to elicit information which was cumulative of other evidence the jury did hear, we find there was either no error or harmless error with respect to each issue he raises.

Banales next argues that the district court erred in preventing him from admitting evidence that he cooperated with the investigation. The district court’s evi-dentiary rulings are reviewed for abuse of discretion. United States v. Campbell, 42 F.3d 1199,…