United States v. Kaleena Morales

FOR PUBLICATION

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 12-10069 Plaintiff-Appellee, D.C. No. v. 4:11-cr-02782-

CKJ-HCE-

KALEENA LEAH MORALES,

Defendant-Appellant. OPINION

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona Cindy K. Jorgenson, District Judge, Presiding

Argued and Submitted March 13, 2013—San Francisco, California

Filed July 2, 2013

Before: M. Margaret McKeown, Consuelo M. Callahan, and Sandra S. Ikuta, Circuit Judges.

Opinion by Judge Ikuta SUMMARY*

Criminal Law

The panel affirmed convictions for conspiracy to transport aliens who unlawfully came to or entered the United States and for transporting such aliens for private financial private gain, in a case in which the defendant challenged the admissibility of forms filled out by Border Patrol agents in the field, which included statements by the smuggled aliens that they were in the United States illegally.

The panel held that admission of the forms did not violate the Confrontation Clause, but that the aliens’ admissions included in the forms were inadmissible…