Opinion ID: 786582
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Multi-Load Conspiracy

Text: 10 In Recio I, the panel majority found that there was insufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to convict Jimenez Recio and Lopez-Meza of being part of a broader, multi-load drug conspiracy, either before or after the seizure of the drug shipment. In so holding, the panel majority did not rely on the Cruz conspiracy rule. 3 Instead, we noted that under this Circuit's decision in United States v. Umagat, 998 F.2d 770, 773-74 (9th Cir.1993), the limited role Defendants played in the November 18 shipment alone is insufficient to charge them with complicity for any prior loads. Recio I, 258 F.3d at 1072-73. Because the evidence of the Defendants' role in the November 18 shipment itself was insufficient to prove complicity in a multi-load conspiracy, we weighed the circumstantial evidence of the Defendants' prior involvement in a broader conspiracy. Id. at 1073. We found this evidence insufficient to prove involvement in a multi-load conspiracy. Id. 11 Our determination in Recio I that there was insufficient evidence for a rational jury to convict the defendants of participation in a multi-load conspiracy was not dependent on the Cruz rule. Therefore, the Supreme Court's overruling of Cruz does not alter our approach to evaluating the evidence presented by the Government in this regard. There is no reason to revise our previous decision that the government did not produce sufficient evidence for a rational jury to convict Jimenez Recio and Lopez-Meza of involvement in a multi-load conspiracy.