Pineda-Torres

MEMORANDUM *

Appellant Vicente Pineda-Torres was indicted for importation and possession with intent to distribute marijuana. The charges followed upon the discovery of 19.4 kilograms of marijuana in the dashboard of a car driven by Pineda-Torres at the San Ysidro, California, border crossing. A key issue at the jury trial was whether Pineda-Torres had bought, or rather had only borrowed, the car from Armando Bobadilla, which would bear on his likely responsibility for the contraband in the dashboard of the car. The jury in Pineda-Torres’s second trial 1 apparently believed Bobadilla’s testimony that Pineda-Torres bought, as opposed to borrowed, the car, and found Pineda-Torres guilty of the marijuana offenses. PinedaTorres timely appealed. Pineda-Torres advances four arguments on appeal. Because the facts are known to the parties, we set forth the facts only as necessary to explain our decision.

Pineda-Torres first contends that his Confrontation Clause rights were violated when the district court did not allow Pineda-Torres’s counsel to cross-examine Bobadilla regarding the potential criminal penalties associated with the lies Bobadilla had submitted to the California…