Opinion ID: 4494189
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Day Three: Barragan-Lopez testified

Text: On the third morning of trial, the government called Miguel Barragan-Lopez to testify against Pineda-Hernandez. Barragan-Lopez was a co-defendant who pleaded guilty. According to Pineda-Hernandez, Barragan-Lopez was “heavily involved in the alleged Code Red drug-distribution ring” and was a star witness for the government (“critical” and “key”). (Pineda-Hernandez’s Br., 8–9.) Barragan-Lopez testified through Samuel Ramos, an interpreter hired by the government, not appointed by the court, and not federally certified. Before Barragan-Lopez testified, Pineda-Hernandez’s counsel agreed there were no issues with Ramos’s qualifications and agreed to have him interpret. So he did. The general process involved him listening to an attorney’s question in English, interpreting the question into Spanish for Barragan-Lopez, listening to his Spanish response, and interpreting the response into English. The court did not record audio at trial. The court reporter did not capture any Spanish in the transcript of Barragan-Lopez’s testimony (save “Si” a few times). So we have no record of all the Spanish spoken by Ramos or Barragan-Lopez. Neither party asked the court to record or transcribe the Spanish. Barragan-Lopez testified as follows. He dealt drugs in Indianapolis in 2013, was convicted of a felony drug crime, was deported, but soon returned to the United States because he owed money to people in Mexico. In 2015 he was involved in further drug activity that lead to the charges in this case. He faced a minimum of 20 years in prison because of his prior felony drug conviction. He decided to cooperate with the government in exchange for a chance to receive a lower sentence. 10 Nos. 18-1890 & 18-2261 Barragan-Lopez admitted that around May 2015, he entered into an arrangement with Pineda-Hernandez (also known as “Flaco”) and others involving meth distribution. Barragan-Lopez testified about Pineda-Hernandez’s role: Q What was Flaco’s role? A What do you mean Flaco’s role? Q In this business arrangement regarding the distribution of methamphetamine, what did Flaco do? A He received it. Q Okay. Received it from where? A From Mexico. Q How do you know that? A Because he told me that. Q Okay. What did Niko do? I am sorry, what did Grenas do? A Help him distribute it. Q Okay. What did you do? A Help Grenas and he to distribute it. Q Now, when you talk about “he,” are you referring to Flaco, the Defendant, Pineda-Her- nandez? A Yes. (Trial Tr., DE 633, 393:6–21.) Barragan-Lopez confirmed his testimony about PinedaHernandez (“Flaco”) a bit later: Nos. 18-1890 & 18-2261 11 Q All right. So you have told us about this distribution system where Flaco had obtained the methamphetamine. The methamphetamine was distributed down through Grenas, to you, to Big Mike, and College? A Yes. Q How much did you have to pay for a pound of methamphetamine that was provided to you by Grenas from Flaco? A Eight, 8,000. (Id. at 396:22–397:4.) Barragan-Lopez testified about the color of the meth he received from Pineda-Hernandez (“Flaco”): Q Okay. As you sit here today, do you re- call the color of the methamphetamine that you received from Flaco? A Yes. Q What color was it? A Pinky transparent. Q Now, was some of the methampheta- mine that you received actually white? A Yes.