Opinion ID: 201586
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Arguments of Defendants

Text: 9 Pacheco-Diaz argues that there were numerous trial errors which should result in his conviction being vacated. His primary argument is that the trial was flawed because the court did not instruct the translator to translate Spanish language conversations on audio tapes introduced into evidence, and the court reporter to transcribe them simultaneously with the playing of the tapes. He describes this as a violation of the Court Reporter Act and a violation of the rule the Supreme Court set down in Hardy v. United States, 375 U.S. 277, 84 S.Ct. 424, 11 L.Ed.2d 331 (1964). Pacheco-Diaz also alleges a series of evidentiary errors: in permitting a testifying agent to present an overview of the case, in admitting bad act evidence and hearsay, in denying his request to present a video tape, and in denying a motion seeking production of files. He argues that the overall effect of the errors constitutes prejudicial error. 10 Pacheco-Diaz further argues that the trial court erred in failing to grant his Rule 29 motion for judgment of acquittal. He argues that the verdict could not be based on the testimony of an admittedly corrupt cooperating witness who was paid financial compensation, and that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction, particularly on Count III, the charge that he used a firearm in the commission of a drug trafficking crime. 11 As to sentencing, he argues that the sentence should be vacated because appellant was subject to sentencing entrapment and manipulation. 2
12 Defendant Vázquez makes two arguments. He objects to presenting the audio tapes, which were solely in Spanish, without ascertaining if the jurors were fluent enough in Spanish to understand the tapes. He secondly argues that the Guidelines maximum supervised release term for his offense was five years, and therefore the court erred in sentencing the defendant to eight years of supervised release because defendant did not receive prior notice before receiving a sentencing enhancement. See United States v. Cortes-Claudio, 312 F.3d 17, 23 (1st Cir.2002). The government agrees with the second contention and so without further discussion we will remand that portion of Vázquez's sentence pertaining solely to the eight years of supervised release for correction of that error. We note that Pacheco-Diaz similarly received eight years of supervised release term, although it is not apparent from the briefing or record whether he received adequate notice. In light of the government's concession in the companion case, we will also remand the supervised release portion of Pacheco-Diaz's sentence for the limited purpose of determining whether he was similarly sentenced in error and, if so, for correction of that error.