United States v. Everardo Hernandez-Beltran ( 2012 )

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FILED
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT JAN 20 2012
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, No. 11-50025
Plaintiff - Appellee, D.C. No. 3:10-cr-01258-IEG-1
v.
MEMORANDUM*
EVERARDO HERNANDEZ-BELTRAN,
Defendant - Appellant.
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Southern District of California
Irma E. Gonzalez, Chief District Judge, Presiding
Argued and Submitted January 10, 2012
Pasadena, California
Before: KOZINSKI, Chief Judge, REINHARDT and W. FLETCHER, Circuit
Judges.
Everardo Hernandez-Beltran entered a conditional plea to one count of
knowingly importing a controlled substance in violation of 21 U.S.C. §§ 952 and
960, reserving the right to appeal the denial of his motion to dismiss the indictment
due to alleged errors in the grand jury instruction. We affirm.
*
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
The district judge did not err in responding “correct” to a prospective grand
juror’s statement that “something must have happened” prior to an individual’s
case being presented before the grand jury. The “correct” confirmed that other
actors were involved in the criminal process, but did not suggest that the grand
jury’s determination should in any way be influenced by those actors’
determinations. See United States v. Caruto, 663 F.3d 394, 401 (9th Cir. 2011).
We have previously held that the other grand jury instructions that appellant
challenges are not constitutionally defective. See id. at 401-02; United States v.
Cortez-Rivera, 454 F.3d 1038, 1040-41 (9th Cir. 2006); United States v. Navarro-
Vargas, 408 F.3d 1184, 1202-03, 1206-08 (9th Cir. 2005) (en banc).
AFFIRMED.
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