Quintero-Ramos

MEMORANDUM ***

A jury found Miguel Angel QuinteroRamos guilty of three counts of bringing aliens into the United States for financial gain, and three counts of bringing aliens into the United States without presentation, in violation of 8 U.S.C. §§ 1324 (a)(2)(B)(ii) and (a)(l)(A)(ii). We affirm.

Quintero-Ramos argues that the government did not prove that he knew that aliens were in his trailer because he did not confess or admit to knowledge. We review de novo a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence preserved by a motion for acquittal at the close of the evidence. United States v. Carranza, 289 F.3d 634, 641 (9th Cir.2002). Sufficient evidence supports a conviction if, viewed in the light most favorable to the government, a rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319 , 99 S.Ct. 2781 , 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).

Sufficient evidence exists to establish Quintero-Ramos’s knowledge. One of the aliens testified that he made arrangements to be smuggled from Mexico to Los Angeles for $1,500. After being guided over the border by foot and harbored in Yuma for 15 days, he was driven to…