Casares-Moreno

The defendant here was indicted under a penal statute providing for the punishment of any alien who attempts to enter the United States after having been deported, Title 8 U.S.C.A. § 1326 . The principal defense offered was that defendant was not an alien, but, rather, a native-born citizen of this country. The matter was tried before a jury which returned a verdict of Guilty, thus, under the instructions, necessarily finding that defendant was not born in this country.

The matter is now before this Court on a motion for new trial. Two principal grounds are offered in support of the motion. The first is that the verdict is not supported by the evidence. The principal dispute of fact was relative to the birthplace of defendant. Defendant claimed he was born in the United States and offered certain evidence showing that his parents had given birth to a son in this country. The prosecution contended that the son born in the United States was not the defendant here but, rather, his brother, and that the defendant here had taken on the name and identity of such brother. The prosecution offered evidence in support of their contention, including testimony by members of defendant’s…