United States v. Michael Minjarez
Opinion
Opinion
MEMORANDUM
Michael Minjarez (“Minjarez”) was convicted in federal court of armed credit union robbery, armed bank robbery, and bank robbery. During trial, the government called Marie Centeno, a cousin of Lisa Minjarez, Michael Minjarez’s wife. Centeno testified that a car seen near the location of two of the robberies was similar to the car that she loaned Lisa Minjarez in August 2009. During cross-examination, defense counsel elicited from Centeno that she did not like Minjarez because she believed that Minjarez had caused a rift between Centeno and Lisa Minjarez. On redirect, the prosecutor asked Centeno why the rift existed. Centeno explained that she thought Minjarez robbed Lisa Minja-rez’s house.
Defense counsel objected and moved to strike Centeno’s response. The court granted the motion to strike and sustained the objection, admonishing the jury to disregard Centeno’s reply, and to “put it out of your minds as if you had not heard it.” Defense counsel moved for a mistrial, which the court denied. After Centeno completed her testimony, the court again admonished the jury to disregard Cen-teno’s testimony about her reason for disliking Minjarez.