United States Ninth Circuit

In a prosecution of a Mexican national for drug possession and importation offenses, conviction is affirmed, where: 1) the district court did not err in concluding that an officer who translated statements made by the defendant in Spanish for the benefit of another officer served merely as a language conduit for the defendant, so the translated statements were admissible hearsay as statements of a party opponent; and 2) it was not error for the district court to refuse to instruct the jury to infer from the government's destruction of certain personal property that it would have yielded evidence harmful to the government, as no bad faith was shown.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/23/2012
• Published 05/23/2012

Judges

• O'Scannlain

Court

• United States Ninth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• M. Edith Cunningham, Bruce M. Ferg