United States Fourth Circuit

On appeal of conviction on nine criminal counts related to the defendant's membership in the MS-13 gang, judgment of conviction is affirmed, where: 1) erroneous jury instructions as to the federal nexus element of the offense of aiding and abetting witness-tampering murder were harmless error; 2) the government presented sufficient evidence to allow the jury to conclude that the defendant's application for temporary protected status had been denied at the relevant time, and thus the district court properly denied the defendant's motion for acquittal on the charge of being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm; 3) the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing two government witnesses to testify under pseudonyms and without revealing their names, home and work addresses, or dates and places of birth; 4) a search warrant affidavit supported a finding of probable cause; and 5) it was established that the exclusionary rule does not apply to knock-and-announce violations.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/19/2012
• Published 01/19/2012

Judges

• Duncan

Court

• United States Fourth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Sapna Mirchandani, John Alexander Romano