U.S. v. Magana-Arevalo

• Decision Date: 09 March 1981
• Docket Number: MAGANA-AREVALO,No. 80-1866,80-1866
• Citation: 639 F.2d 226
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Francisco Jose, aka: Ricardo Ernesto Martinez-Hernandez, Defendant-Appellant. Summary Calendar. . Unit A
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

Page 226

639 F.2d 226

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Francisco Jose MAGANA-AREVALO, aka: Ricardo Ernesto Martinez-Hernandez, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 80-1866

Summary Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

Unit A

March 9, 1981.

Lucien B. Campbell, Federal Public Defender, W. D. Texas, San Antonio, Tex., Herbert E. Cooper, Asst. Federal Public Defender, El Paso, Tex., for defendant-appellant.

Jamie C. Boyd, U. S. Atty., LeRoy Morgan Jahn, Asst. U. S. Atty., San Antonio, Tex., for plaintiff-appellee.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas.

Before CHARLES CLARK, REAVLEY and WILLIAMS, Circuit Judges.

CHARLES CLARK, Circuit Judge:

After a trial by jury, Francisco Jose Magana-Arevalo was convicted on six counts of unlawfully transporting illegal aliens within the United States in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1324(a)(2). He appeals his convictions, raising claims of insufficiency of evidence, prejudicial pre-trial publicity, and improper prosecutorial comment. We affirm.

In reviewing the sufficiency of the evidence, we must view all the evidence, direct and circumstantial, in the light most favorable to the government and must accept all reasonable inferences and credibility choices that tend to support the jury's verdict. Glasser v. United States, 315 U.S. 60, 80, 62 S.Ct. 457, 469, 86 L.Ed. 680, 704 (1942); United States v. Middlebrooks, 618 F.2d 273, 278 (5th Cir. 1980). The standard of review is whether a jury could reasonably find that the evidence was inconsistent with every reasonable hypothesis of innocence or, put another way, whether a reasonably minded jury must necessarily entertain a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt. United States v. Rodgers, 624 F.2d 1303, 1306 (5th Cir. 1980); United States v. Witt, 618 F.2d 283, 284 (5th Cir. 1980); United States v. Jackson, 588 F.2d 1046, 1056 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 941, 99 S.Ct. 2882, 61 L.Ed.2d 310 (1979).

We find sufficient evidence to support the jury's verdict. All of the El Salvadoran aliens were in the United States illegally, and Magana-Arevalo was apprehended after transporting them to the Union Depot Railroad Station in El Paso in order that they could board a train to Los Angeles. Although the six illegal aliens had never met the defendant before the day of their arrest, he arrived at their temporary lodgings and informed them that he would convey them to the station. They all volunteered to pay him $5.00 to drive them that short distance. One of the aliens, Acevado-Pacheco, testified that he informed the defendant that he was illegally in the United States, even though the others denied telling Magana-Arevalo that they were illegal aliens. Acevado-Pacheco also testified that the defendant instructed them to lie down in the back of the van; the other aliens either gave no reason for lying in the van or testified that they did so on their own in order to avoid detection. In any event, all six of the passengers did in fact lie down in the vehicle.

Furthermore, Officer Randazzo testified that the defendant informed him that he was a citizen of El Salvador illegally in the United States. Magana-Arevalo admitted to Randazzo that he had met a man named Rafael Zuniga in Mexico who enlisted his assistance transporting illegal aliens in exchange for room, board, and a little spending money. Officer Randazzo further testified that the defendant told him that he had accepted this arrangement. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the government and making all credibility choices that tend to support the jury's verdict, we cannot conclude that a reasonably minded jury must necessarily have entertained a reasonable doubt of Magana-Arevalo's guilt.

Defendant also contends that mass media coverage of El Savadorans smuggled illegally into the United States and abandoned by their guides to die in the Arizona desert adversely affected his jury trial. He challenges the district court's method for conducting the jury voir dire and its denial of his motion for continuance.

Rule 24(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure gives the trial court broad discretion in deciding the scope and method of jury voir dire. Ham v. South Carolina, 409 U.S. 524, 527, 93 S.Ct. 848, 851, 35 L.Ed.2d 46, 50 (1973); United States v. Gerald, 624 F.2d 1291, 1296 (5th Cir. 1980). The court's discretion extends to the decision whether to propound questions submitted by counsel and also to the decision whether jurors should be questioned collectively or individually out of the presence of other jurors. United States v. Shavers, 615 F.2d 266, 268 (5th Cir. 1980); United States v. Delval, 600 F.2d 1098, 1102 (5th Cir. 1979). Of course, the trial court's broad discretion is limited by the dictates of due process, and the appellate court must independently evaluate the voir dire testimony of empanelled jurors. See Irvin v. Dowd, 366 U.S. 717, 722-23, 81 S.Ct. 1639, 1642-43, 6 L.Ed.2d 751, 755-56 (1961). On appeal, the court must determine whether the method adopted by the trial court is capable of giving "reasonable assurance that prejudice would be discovered if present." United States v. Delval, 600 F.2d at 1102; United States v. Nell, 526 F.2d 1223, 1229 (5th Cir. 1976). The trial court's decision will "not be lightly overturned." United States v. Carroll, 582...