Contreras-Murillo

MEMORANDUM **

A jury convicted Defendant Fermín Contreras-Murillo of attempted illegal reentry in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1326 . The district court sentenced him to 57 months’ imprisonment. He appeals both his conviction and his sentence.

1. Defendant first argues that the district court erred by refusing to instruct the jury that, if Defendant believed that his “green card” (1-151) was valid, the jury had to acquit him. There was some evidence from which a reasonable jury could have concluded that Defendant believed that he had permission to reenter the United States, including the facts that Defendant readily handed over the card without displaying nervousness and that the green card appeared to border agents to be valid and unaltered. See United States v. Garcia-Cruz, 978 F.2d 537, 540 (9th Cir.1992) (stating that we review for abuse of discretion whether there is some foundation in the evidence for a defendant’s proposed instruction).

But Defendant’s theory of defense was adequately covered by the instructions given. See United States v. Bello-Bahena, 411 F.3d 1083, 1088-89 (9th Cir.2005) (explaining that we review de novo whether the district court’s instructions…