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Illegal Alien's Drug, Gun Convictions Upheld

By Shari Allison

US v. Bustos, no. 07-5157, 12/18/08 - Convictions for possessing with intent to distribute meth, possession of guns and ammo in furtherance of the drug offense, and possession of guns and ammo by illegal alien, all arising from a traffic stop, affirmed. In first trial, defendant was convicted of the last charge but jury hung on first two. No such luck the second time around. Held - no plain error in verdict forms used in both trials that arguably could be read as requiring a not guilty verdict only if the jury unanimously found defendant not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, in light of the instructions as a whole on burden of proof and the strong evidence of guilt presented at both trials, meaning that outcome would not have been different with better verdict forms, meaning that defendant could not demonstrate prejudice...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on December 19, 2008 (boomark / email).