Opinion ID: 688572
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: motion to dismiss based on government's deportation of a witness

Text: 30 Plasencia-Garcia 6 argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss based on the government's deportation of witness Arnulfo Segura-Gonzalez. 31 To obtain relief from deportation of a potentially favorable witness, a defendant must show that the government acted in bad faith in deporting the witness, and that the defendant was prejudiced by this action. United States v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. 858, 866-67 (1982); United States v. Dring, 930 F.2d 687, 693 (9th Cir. 1987), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct. 110 (1992). The district court denied Plasencia-Garcia's motion, finding that the defendant failed make a showing that the government had acted in bad faith in deporting Segura-Gonzalez. (Plasencia-Garcia ER at 28) 32 The district court's conclusion that the government did not act in bad faith in deporting Segura-Gonzalez is a finding of fact reviewed for clear error. United States v. Velarde-Gavarrete, 975 F.2d 672, 676 (9th Cir. 1992), cert. denied, 113 S. Ct. 3010 (1993). 33 In Plasencia-Garcia's motion to dismiss, the only facts listed which might lead to a finding of prosecutorial bad faith is his allegation that government agents interviewed Segura-Gonzalez during the investigation of this case, but then deported him without notice to Plasencia-Garcia. (Plasencia-Garcia ER at 9.) At the hearing on his motion to dismiss, which occurred after all the trial testimony had been received, the court told Plasencia-Garcia's counsel that it had no evidence of bad faith. (Id. at 24-25.) Plasencia-Garcia's counsel's only additional allegation at that point was that she had made several inquiries of the government as to the witness's whereabouts, but did not discover that Segura-Gonzalez had been deported until a day or two before trial. (Id. at 26-27.) The court subsequently denied the motion. (Id. at 28.) 34 Based on our review of the evidence presented to the court on this issue, we conclude that the trial court did not clearly err in finding that the government did not deport Segura-Gonzalez in bad faith. The district court therefore properly denied Plasencia-Garcia's motion to dismiss.