Figueroa-Comacateco

MEMORANDUM **

Angel Figueroa-Comacateco appeals his jury conviction for violating 8 U.S.C. § 1326 (a) for illegal reentry after deportation and his fifty-seven month sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1291 ,1294 and affirm.

Figueroa-Comacateco argues that the district court erroneously denied his motion for judgment of acquittal; he says that the government’s evidence, absent his *694 own admissions, failed to show that he entered the U.S. “free from official restraint.” We review de novo a district court’s decision to deny a motion for judgment of acquittal. See United States v. Sutcliffe, 505 F.3d 944, 959 (9th Cir.2007). “[C]orpus delicti evidence is required only when a confession is the sole basis for a conviction.” United States v. Norris, 428 F.3d 907, 913 (9th Cir.2005). In such a case, “the government must also adduce some independent corroborating evidence.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted).

The government showed at trial that Figueroa-Comacateco was discovered approximately two miles north of the Arizona-Mexico border. A fingerprint expert testified that Figueroa-Comacateco’s prints matched those of the man arrested on the day in question…