United States Ninth Circuit

Defendant's conviction for transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death is affirmed where: 1) a defendant may be found guilty of transportation of illegal aliens resulting in death only if the government proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant's conduct was the proximate cause of the charged deaths, and the government made this showing; and 2) because there was no "reasonable likelihood that the jury" thought the greater and lesser offenses were equivalent, there was no error, let alone plain error, in the verdict form. However, defendant's sentence is vacated where, because the court required strict compliance with Fed. R. Crim. P. 32, it could not give the district court the benefit of the doubt and assume it meant "malice aforethought" when it said "recklessness."

Appellate Information

• Decided 08/10/2010
• Published 08/10/2010

Judges

• Betty B. Fletcher

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Jon M. Sands, Diane J. Humetewa