[DO NOT PUBLISH]

IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT

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No. 17-11097

Non-Argument Calendar

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D.C. Docket No. 1:15-cr-00391-MHC-RGV-1

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 

 Plaintiff-Appellee,

versus

ANDRES A. LOPEZ-MARTINEZ, 

 Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from the United States District Court

for the Northern District of Georgia

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(March 29, 2018)

Before WILSON, MARTIN, and JORDAN, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM: 

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Andres Lopez-Martinez appeals his conviction and sentence for 

naturalization fraud. He argues that the district court denied him the right to 

present a complete defense and that the prosecutor’s closing argument 

inappropriately and incorrectly referred to excluded evidence. Lopez-Martinez 

argues these errors warrant a vacation of the judgment and a new trial. After 

careful consideration, we affirm. 

I.

Lopez-Martinez originally immigrated to the United States in 1988. He 

arrived in Oregon and took on work picking strawberries. His job as an 

agricultural worker helped him get legal status as a permanent resident in 1990. 

In 1997 Lopez-Martinez moved in with the Santos family. The Santos had 

two daughters under twelve, A.S. and J.S. About two years later, Lopez-Martinez 

was investigated by local police for allegedly molesting the Santos girls. LopezMartinez denied the allegations and moved out. He then left the country to visit 

his family in Guatemala. 

Lopez-Martinez returned to the United States about three months later, this 

time arriving in Canton, Georgia. He stayed in Georgia after he got a job making 

more money than he had working two jobs in Oregon. Nearly thirteen years after 

the events in Oregon, Lopez-Martinez applied for naturalization. On the 

application and in an interview with a government officer, he said that he had 

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never “committed an offense for which [he was] not arrested.” Lopez-Martinez 

became a United States citizen on December 7, 2012. 

In the meantime, back in 2001, a grand jury in Oregon issued an indictment 

charging Lopez-Martinez with a number of crimes. It wasn’t until 2013, however, 

that police were able to find Lopez-Martinez in Georgia and arrest him. LopezMartinez was brought back to Oregon for prosecution and faced a prison sentence

of up to 500 months if convicted. He pled guilty to two counts of unlawful sexual 

penetration in the first degree and received a 100-month sentence. 

While Lopez-Martinez was serving his state sentence, the federal 

government indicted him for naturalization fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 

§ 1425(a). The government charged that, based on the Oregon charges and 

conviction, Lopez-Martinez knowingly lied when he said he had never committed 

a crime for which he was not arrested. Before trial, Lopez-Martinez filed a motion 

in limine, asking the district court to exclude evidence of his Oregon guilty plea. 

He argued that plea was unconstitutional because it was the product of coercion; it 

was not entered into knowingly and voluntarily; and his court-appointed counsel 

was constitutionally ineffective during the state proceedings. The district court 

reviewed the state record, found the claims had no merit, and denied LopezMartinez’s motion. The government then filed its own motion in limine asking the 

court to exclude evidence and prohibit arguments that collaterally attacked the 

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validity of Lopez-Martinez’s guilty plea. The court granted the motion. The 

upshot was that, at trial, Lopez-Martinez could present evidence and argue he was 

in fact innocent of his Oregon convictions but could not challenge his guilty plea 

as involuntary or claim he had ineffective assistance of counsel during the Oregon 

proceedings. 

At trial, the jury heard testimony from J.S., who said that Lopez-Martinez 

sexually molested her “on more than one occasion.” The government also 

presented Lopez-Martinez’s plea agreement to the jury. On the stand, LopezMartinez denied he inappropriately touched either of the Santos girls. He testified 

he “pled guilty [in Oregon] not because [he] had done that, but because [he] didn’t 

have any other option. Because 500 months were kind of 40 years.” He also said, 

“I just pled guilty because I was trapped, you know, in this pressure, in this 

situation where if I was — where I was going to get 500 months instead of the 100 

months.” He testified about the state court’s statements about his possible 

sentences and that there would be no immigration consequences after pleading 

guilty, and his own lack of understanding about his options and the plea offer due 

to not having any advice or recommendation from his lawyer at the time. He also 

talked about asking his court-appointed attorney why he needed to sign the plea 

agreement and signing it after being told “because you have to.” 

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The jury found Lopez-Martinez guilty of naturalization fraud. This appeal 

followed.

II.

Lopez-Martinez argues that the district court erred when it “prevented him 

from explaining that his answer on the [naturalization] application was truthful.” 

He claims the court’s order prevented him 

from introducing evidence—both testimony and documents—that he 

was not guilty of the state crime and answered truthfully the 

naturalization application and said he was forced to enter a plea of 

guilty[;] that he received incorrect immigration advice about the effect 

his guilty plea would have on his citizenship[;] and prevented him 

from introducing letters [he] wrote, complaining about the Oregon 

judge and his court-appointed counsel. 

Lopez-Martinez argues this denied him the constitutional guarantee of “a 

meaningful opportunity to present a complete defense.” Crane v. Kentucky, 476 

U.S. 683, 690, 106 S. Ct. 2142, 2146 (1986) (quotation omitted). 

We review de novo constitutional questions of law. United States v. 

Underwood, 446 F.3d 1340, 1345 (11th Cir. 2006). A district court’s rulings on 

the admissibility of evidence are reviewed for abuse of discretion. Id. 

The Sixth Amendment guarantees criminal defendants the right to have 

“compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor.” U.S. Const. amend. VI. 

This right, and due process generally, requires that a defendant “have an

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opportunity to be heard” and “to offer evidence of his own.” Specht v. Patterson, 

386 U.S. 605, 610, 87 S. Ct. 1209, 1212 (1967); United States v. Hurn, 368 F.3d 

1359, 1362 (11th Cir. 2004). Generally, a defendant must be allowed to present 

evidence “directly pertaining to any of the actual elements of the charged offense 

or an affirmative defense”; “pertaining to collateral matters that, through a 

reasonable chain of inferences, could make the existence of one or more of the 

elements of the charged offense or an affirmative defense more or less certain”;

“that could have a substantial impact on the credibility of an important government 

witness”; or “tends to place the story presented by the prosecution in a significantly 

different light, such that a reasonable jury might receive it differently.” Hurn, 368 

F.3d at 1363 (footnotes omitted). 

However, even if a district court erroneously excluded evidence, we will not 

reverse if the “error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.” Id. at 1362–63 

(quotation omitted). When a defendant gets the “essence of the desired [evidence] 

before the jury,” his compulsory due process rights have not been prejudiced. 

United States v. Buckley, 586 F.2d 498, 503 (5th Cir. 1978).1

In this case, we need not decide whether the district court’s exclusion of 

Lopez-Martinez’s evidence challenging the validity of his guilty plea violated his 

 1 In Bonner v. City of Prichard, 661 F.2d 1206 (11th Cir. 1981) (en banc), we adopted as 

binding precedent all decisions of the former Fifth Circuit handed down before October 1, 1981. 

Id. at 1209.

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right to present a complete defense because any error was harmless beyond a 

reasonable doubt. Lopez-Martinez sought to tell the jury that he pled guilty not 

because he committed the crimes, but for other, unrelated reasons. He did exactly 

that, repeatedly telling the jury he did not plead guilty because he committed the 

crimes but because he felt “pressure” and “trapped.” He also told the jury that he 

did not understand his options or his possible sentences; that the state court told 

him there wouldn’t be any immigration consequences of his guilty plea; and that he 

signed the plea agreement only after his lawyer told him he had to. LopezMartinez thus got the “essence of the desired [evidence] before the jury.” See id.

(determining a defendant’s compulsory due process rights were not prejudiced by 

his inability to question certain witnesses because other witnesses testified on those 

facts). On this record, any possible constitutional error in the district court’s ruling 

was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. See Hurn, 368 F.3d at 1362–63.

III.

Lopez-Martinez also argues his due process rights were violated by the 

government’s misconduct during closing arguments. He argues the prosecutor 

misled the jury when she argued that he pled guilty of his “own free will.” 

“To find prosecutorial misconduct, a two-element test must be met: (1) the 

remarks must be improper, and (2) the remarks must prejudicially affect the 

substantial rights of the defendant.” United States v. Wilson, 149 F.3d 1298, 1301 

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(11th Cir. 1998) (quotation omitted). If “the prosecutor’s remarks were ‘invited,’ 

and did no more than respond substantially in order to ‘right the scale,’ such 

comments would not warrant reversing a conviction.” United States v. Young, 470 

U.S. 1, 12–13, 105 S. Ct. 1038, 1045 (1985). 

Assuming the prosecutor’s remark was improper because it impermissibly 

took advantage of the district court’s order excluding defense evidence and 

arguments challenging the guilty plea, the prosecutor’s remarks were invited. 

During closing arguments, defense counsel effectively argued to the jury that 

Lopez-Martinez did not freely plead guilty, which was also in violation of the 

district court’s order: 

[W]hat [Lopez-Martinez] knows is if I don’t want to die in an Oregon 

prison, here is what I have to say. I have to say yes to these questions. 

I have to say I’m satisfied with my lawyer. I have to say I did it. 

Even though he didn’t.

Only after defense counsel finished did the prosecutor make the challenged 

statement: 

So, look at the evidence. Who’s telling the truth? [J.S.]; or Mr. 

Lopez? And if Mr. Lopez, which Mr. Lopez? The 2014 Mr. Lopez 

who stood in court and said I committed these crimes and I’m 

changing my plea, of my own free will? Or the Mr. Lopez today who 

doesn’t want to lose his citizenship.

Taken in context, the government’s lone remark “did no more than respond 

substantially in order to ‘right the scale,’” and thus does not warrant reversal. See

id.

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AFFIRMED.

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