United States v. Carlos Figueroa-Gaona

MEMORANDUM **

There was sufficient evidence to convict Carlos Figueroa-Gaona of possessing the handgun and the methamphetamine. A video filmed approximately one month prior to Figueroa’s arrest shows a man whom the jury could rationally conclude was Figueroa removing a handgun from a gun box and identifying the handgun as his own. The handgun and the gun box are similar to those the police recovered when they searched Figueroa’s home, and it was in the gun box that both the handgun and the methamphetamine were found. A jury could rationally conclude that the handgun and gun box in the video were the same as those found in the bedroom closet and that the methamphetamine found with the handgun was also Figueroa’s. Moreover, the items were found beneath men’s shirts in the bedroom closet of a one-bedroom home, and Figueroa was the only adult male resident of that home. All this evidence, taken together and viewed “in the light most favorable to the prosecution,” Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 , 99 S.Ct. 2781 , 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979), was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Figueroa constructively possessed both the handgun and…

dissenting:

I respectfully dissent from the panel’s determination that the district court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the evidence of Figueroa-Gaona’s prior methamphetamine sale.

Figueroa-Gaona was charged with, among other things, possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, based on law enforcement’s discovery on March 11, 2009 of about 33 grams of methamphetamine in a closet in the home where he lived. The critical disputed issue in this case involved the question of possession.

The district court allowed the government to introduce evidence that Figueroa-Gaona sold about 27 grams of methamphetamine to an informant on February 5, 2009. The government filed a motion in limine in which it contended that the prior sale was “relevant toward proving Defendant’s intent to distribute the methamphetamine found in his home [on] March 11, 2009.” The government’s argument that the evidence was not unfairly prejudicial was rather conclusory, to say the least; it argued simply that “[t]he Defendant is charged with possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute it, therefore, there is nothing unfair about evidence that he distributed methamphetamine.”…

FILED

NOT FOR PUBLICATION MAR 28 2013

MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS U .S. C O U R T OF APPE ALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 11-50413

Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 3:09-cr-01114-DMS-

v.

MEMORANDUM *

CARLOS FIGUEROA - GAONA,

Defendant - Appellant.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of California Dana M. Sabraw, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 5, 2013 Pasadena, California

Before: PAEZ and WATFORD, Circuit Judges, and KENNELLY, District Judge.**

There was sufficient evidence to convict Carlos Figueroa-Gaona of

possessing the handgun and the methamphetamine. A video filmed approximately

one month prior to Figueroa’s arrest shows a man whom the jury could rationally

* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3. ** The Honorable Matthew F. Kennelly, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois, sitting by designation. conclude was Figueroa removing a handgun from a gun box and identifying…