UNITED STATES v. HAN (2018)

MEMORANDUM ***

Jianguo Han (“Han”) appeals his convictions for conspiracy to manufacture, and manufacture of, more than 100 marijuana plants, claiming insufficient evidence. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 and affirm.¹

Police seized 908 marijuana plants from inside two residential properties, both owned by Han’s wife. Drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the government, United States v. Alvarez-Valenzuela, 231 F.3d 1198, 1201-02 (9th Cir. 2000), the evidence presented at trial showed that Han, along with another man, unloaded “grow lights” from a U-Haul truck at one of the properties. Additionally, Han was apprehended attempting to flee the neighborhood surrounding that property while smelling of cultivated marijuana and driving a van that was carrying several “bundles” of potting soil. Han had previously been seen parking the van at the property on a regular basis. Further, Han’s son told police that he had helped his father cultivate marijuana at the second property from which marijuana plants were seized. Given this evidence, a “rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of” conspiracy to manufacture, and manufacture of, more than 100 marijuana plants “beyond a reasonable doubt.” See Phillips, 704 F.3d at 763.

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

1.   Han failed to preserve his sufficiency of the evidence claim. Accordingly, we review for plain error to determine whether “ ‘any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime[s] beyond a reasonable doubt.’ ” United States v. Phillips, 704 F.3d 754, 763 (9th Cir. 2012) (quoting Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) ).