United States v. Gilberto Aguilar-Vera

On December 8, 2009, Defendant-Appellant Gilberto Aguilar-Vera was arrested and charged with violating 8 ■ U.S.C. § 1325, misdemeanor illegal entry by an alien. The next day, Aguilar-Vera was brought before a magistrate judge in federal court in Arizona for a guilty plea proceeding that was part- of Operation Streamline, which is “a procedure for the taking of pleas en masse.” United States v. Escamilla-Rojas, 640 F.3d 1055, 1058 (9th Cir.2011).

On appeal, Aguilar-Vera contends that his plea violated Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11(b)(2), which states that “[b]eforé accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere, the court must address the defendant personally in open court and determine that the plea is voluntary and did not result from force, threats, or promises (other than promises in a plea agreement).” We haye several times before held that certain aspects of group plea proceedings violate various provisions of Rule 11, and we follow those precedents and again conclude there was Rule 11 error. Escamilla-Rojas, 640 F.3d at 1060 ; United States v. Roblero-Solis, 588 F.3d 692, 700 (9th Cir.2009).

However, in Escamittar-Rojas — our last encounter with Operation…