United States v. Sanchez, 26014.
| Decision Date | 07 April 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 26014.,26014. |
| Citation | 440 F.2d 649 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Matilde Romero SANCHEZ, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
William T. Healy, Tucson, Ariz., for defendant-appellant.
Richard K. Burke, U. S. Atty., Ann Bowen, Asst. U. S. Atty., Tucson, Ariz., for plaintiff-appellee.
Before BARNES, KOELSCH and WRIGHT, Circuit Judges.
Appellant was convicted of facilitating the transportation and concealment of 1,140 grams of heroin in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 174. On appeal she complains of the trial court's refusal to instruct the jury on entrapment. We affirm.
Appellant and her daughter were charged with transporting and concealing the heroin in Nogales, Arizona, knowing it to have been illegally imported. The daughter failed to appear for trial and appellant was tried alone. Appellant denied knowledge of the illegal importation, but also claimed that she was entrapped by a government agent who had called her son-in-law, Hector Ambriz, a "big dealer" across the border in Mexico, prior to the arrest. This call was tape recorded.
At the pretrial hearing appellant moved for production of the recordings, and the motion was denied. However, prior to trial the judge permitted her counsel to hear the existing tapes, and counsel acknowledged that he had listened to them. One of the recordings, taken after appellant was arrested, had unfortunately been erased by an agent in the course of consolidating the tapes. With appellant's counsel present the trial court heard testimony in chambers by government agents about the contents of the conversation on the erased tape. We can find no error in this procedure. In any event, the post-arrest recording could have no bearing on the alleged entrapment.
Appellant was arrested after she had handed the heroin to a government agent. Her defense was that an informer had called Hector Ambriz in Mexico and set up the transaction, inferring that Hector and his wife and mother-in-law, the appellant, deliver the drugs. The claimed entrapment was that Hector was himself a government agent and, if not, he too had been entrapped by the informer who had called him.
If Hector was entrapped, that defense is not available to appellant. Appellant cannot avail herself of the possibility that her supplier may have been entrapped. Carbajal-Portillo v. United States, 396 F.2d 944 (9th Cir. 1968).
Further, having denied knowledge and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
U.S. v. Valencia
...cert. denied, 424 U.S. 956, 96 S.Ct. 1431, 47 L.Ed.2d 361 (1976), we cited with approval the Ninth Circuit case of United States v. Sanchez, 440 F.2d 649 (9th Cir. 1971), and held that "since the invitation to participate came, not from the Government but from appellant's co-conspirator, th......
-
U.S. v. Demma
...Rodriquez (9th Cir. 1971) 446 F.2d 859, 860.10 E. g., United States v. Barrios (9th Cir. 1972) 457 F.2d 680, 682; United States v. Sanchez (9th Cir. 1971) 440 F.2d 649, 650; Corcoran v. United States (9th Cir. 1970) 427 F.2d 16, 17.11 Carbajal-Portillo v. United States (9th Cir. 1968) 396 F......
-
United States v. Harling
...United States v. Whitlock, 442 F.2d 1061 (8th Cir. 1971); United States v. Archuleta, 446 F.2d 518 (9th Cir. 1971); United States v. Sanchez, 440 F.2d 649 (9th Cir. 1971); United States v. Fraser, 431 F.2d 876 (9th Cir. 1970); Burgess v. United States, 142 U.S.App.D.C. 198, 440 F.2d 226 (19......
-
United States v. Reed
...from the Government but from appellant's co-conspirator, there was no question of fact on the issue of inducement. United States v. Sanchez, 440 F.2d 649, 650 (9th Cir. 1971); United States v. McMillan, 368 F.2d 810, 812 (2d Cir. 1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 909, 87 S.Ct. 856, 17 L.Ed.2d 7......