Opinion ID: 15343
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Verbal Responses

Text: 23 The government also points to those of Ortega's oral responses that it views as inconsistent and thus as circumstantial evidence of guilty knowledge. For instance, Ortega told Puente that he was traveling to El Campo, but told Gonzales that he was on his way to Houston. Given Ortega's plausible explanation at trial, however, these statements are not necessarily inconsistent. Ortega testified that he planned to stop in El Campo, which is directly on the way from Roma to Houston, to pick up barbecue disks, and then to continue on to Houston to enroll his children in school. Similarly, while Ortega was telling the agents that he and his family were coming from Miguel Aleman, Mrs. Ortega was telling them that the family was on its way from Roma, Texas. Again, as with the purported inconsistency in their destination, any perceived inconsistency in the Ortegas' statements about their point of departure evaporates when it is recognized that Miguel Aleman, Mexico, and Roma, Texas, are simply sister cities on opposite sides of the Rio Grande River--two municipalities comprising a single metropolitan area, which is separated by but one natural and one artificial boundary. The most direct route north from Miguel Aleman is across the international bridge to and through Roma, and from there to the checkpoint. 22 24