Diaz-Rivera
United States v. Diaz-Rivera
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM *
Armando Diaz-Rivera (“Diaz-Rivera”) was convicted of being an illegal alien “found in” the United States following deportation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a). At trial, Diaz-Rivera based his entire defense on the involuntariness of his entry. The district court properly determined the voluntariness of entry to be irrelevant and excluded testimony related to that defense. 1 Diaz-Rivera now contends that he was also precluded from testifying as to the involuntariness of his continued presence in the United States, and thus the district court abused its discretion in sustaining the government’s objections to defense counsel’s questions.
“A district court’s evidentiary rulings during trial are reviewed for abuse of discretion.” United States v. Hankey, 203 F.3d 1160, 1166 (9th Cir.2000) (citing Old Chief v. United States, 519 U.S. 172 , 174 n. 1, 117 S.Ct. 644 , 136 L.Ed.2d 574 (1997)); United States v. Ramirez, 176 F.3d 1179, 1182 (9th Cir.1999). “Evidentiary rulings will be reversed for abuse of discretion only if such nonconstitutional error more likely than not affected the verdict.” Id. at 1167 (quoting Ramirez, 176 F.3d at 1182 ).